Roman Tmetuchl (February 11, 1926 - October 1998) was a Palau political leader and businessman.[1] During World War II, he was recruited to work for the Kempeitai, the Empire of Japan's military police.[2] He later served in the Congress of Micronesia, and went into business, through which he amassed a fortune of US$35 million. He later served as Palau's chief negotiator on the discussions regarding the Compact of Free Association.[1] He ran for president of Palau in the 1988 elections, the final elections conducted under a plurality voting system. He received 26% of the vote, or just 31 votes fewer than the winning candidate Ngiratkel Etpison; the near-tie led elections in Palau to be reformed, and after that they were conducted under majority voting, with a second round if no candidate received more than half of all votes cast.[3]
Palau International Airport was renamed as the Roman Tmetuchl International Airport in his honor in a resolution by the Senate of Palau proposed by senators Reklai, Koshiba, Seid, Diaz, and Dengokl on April 11, 2006 and later passed on May 4 of the same year. The resolution stated that "The Roman Tmetuchl International Airport is a fitting name for Palau's international airport due to Mr. Tmetuchl's numerous years of valuable services he provided to the Republic and for the assistance he provided in developing the airport."[4][5]