Samoa's Head of State Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi will join local dignitaries at the funeral services over the next two days for American Samoa's secretary of Samoan Affairs, Tufele Li'amatua.
Tufele was the first locally elected Lieutenant Governor, a territorial senator, Manu'a's district governor and police commissioner.
He died in Honolulu last week, while returning home from a world peace conference in Jerusalem.
The governor Togiola Tulafono says Tufele gave of himself greatly and selflessly and made an indelible mark on American Samoa and the region.
Flags in the territory are flying at half mast in Tufele's honour.
