David M. Sablan has held many titles in his career, and had many awarded to him. The Saipan businessman, who also built his career on Guam, is now a consultant to Tan Holdings.

His first job was as a messenger for the U.S. military supply department while he was still an elementary school student, and he has worked in a number of industries holding top management positions in Atkins Kroll and Bank of Hawaii as well as being instrumental in the tourism industry in Saipan.

He was instrumental in founding the Rotary Club of Saipan, serving twice as president; three times as president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce; and launched pivotal companies in the tourism industry.

Among other honors, Sablan holds the titles of 2005 Guam Business Magazine Executive of the Year, 2005 Rotary Citizen of the Year and 2005 Saipan Chamber of Commerce Businessperson of the Year. He has been a president of the Navy League in Guam, chairman of the Marianas Visitors Authority, chairman of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and has sat on numerous boards

Sablan can now add “author” to his resume.

Published in January, “A Degree of Success Through Curiosity,” takes us through Sablan’s life in his own words, and with the benefit of a remarkable memory. The book spans his childhood years through the Japanese occupation of Saipan, his education and the leaps and bounds in his career.

Many of our readers will know David Sablan as “Uncle Dave,” an affectionate honorary title in most cases that may affirm to visitors that hear him addressed so at community functions in Saipan that all its residents are related.

The book will have special meaning to Sablan’s family; it is indeed a fuller telling of the experiences of his life — and what they mean to him and ultimately them — than most children will accumulate in discussions with their parents.

But the book is also sprinkled with the names of individuals, families and businesses that have built the Marianas and Micronesia and contributed to shaping the region and its people.

The book packs a picture of the development of a man, his challenges and successes against the background of the progress of the Marianas into its almost 100 pages.

To those in the islands familiar with Sablan, the book underlines his ability in maintaining relationships. Sablan recounts in the book how he communicated frequently with individuals he has known and took pains to meet them and others on his travels. He is responsible for their continued relationship with the islands.

The book also contains a number of anecdotes. This may be one that indicates not only Sablan’s strength of purpose, belief in the identity his life has forged to date, but his sense of humor.

In June 1983, Sablan traveled to the U.S. mainland, with his wife, Rita, the Sablan children and extended family, and readied to take a cross-country trip in a new Cadillac Fleetwood Sedan. He writes, “I acquired a Saipan license plate prior to leaving Saipan and we used it on the Cadillac while we drove in the United States.”

“A Degree of Success Through Curiosity” is available at Bestseller Bookstore on Guam and at Joeten Susupe in Saipan for $12