JANM Mourns the Passing of Gary Y. Okihiro

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) mourns the passing of renowned author and scholar, Gary Y. Okihiro. He was a visiting professor of American studies at Yale University, professor emeritus of international and public affairs at Columbia University, and founding director of Columbia’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. 

“Okihiro’s work was instrumental to and deeply valued by JANM. A treasured scholar and advisor to the Museum during its early years, he had an acute understanding of how Japanese and Asian Americans figured into the diversity of the US. Among his many contributions to the Museum, he was the founding scholar of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, now known as the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center). During that time, he gathered a diverse group of scholars together to create its educational framework, Fighting for Democracy. The framework was founded on three core principles: 1) We, the people, shape democracy; 2) I, too, can shape democracy; and 3) Those who have struggled for freedom and equality have extended democracy's reach for all people. Fighting for Democracy informed the Democracy Center’s media pieces, exhibitions, and educational materials, and culminated in an exhibition by the same name. JANM will forever appreciate his candor, comprehensive scholarship, and international, interdisciplinary perspective that deepened and advanced our mission,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

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