The memorial service for Ronald Takaki, professor emeritus of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, will be held on Thursday, July 23 in San Francisco.
A preeminent scholar of U.S. race relations who taught the University of California's first black history course, died at his home in Berkeley on Tuesday, May 26, at age 70.
Although Takaki retired from UC Berkeley in 2003, he was frequently seen on campus, delivering guest lectures to standing-room-only audiences or joining marches about social justice, with his shock of silver hair, trim runner's body and professorial spectacles.
"When I think of Ron, the words that come to mind are: solidarity, justice, easy-going, self-effacing, generous, creative," said Beatriz Manz, chair of UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies. "He poked fun at himself and had a contagious laugh. He embodied kindness."
During his more than 40 years at UC Berkeley, Takaki established the nation's first ethnic studies Ph.D. program as well as UC Berkeley's American Cultures requirement for graduation. He also advised President Clinton in 1997 on his major speech on race. In his books, such as "Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb," "Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth Century America" and "Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii," Takaki tracked the history of racist attitudes not just about Asian Americans, but about all minorities, using real people's stories to touch all readers, not just scholars. Takaki's 1989 book, "Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans," was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
"Ron Takaki elevated and popularized the study of America's multiracial past and present like no other scholar, and in doing so had an indelible impact on a generation of students and researchers across the nation and world," said Don Nakanishi, director of and professor at UCLA's Asian American Studies Center and a longtime friend of Takaki's.
"He wanted to influence public discourse," said Michael Omi, an associate professor of ethnic studies who had also been Takaki's student. "He really was a pioneer in comparative ethnic studies."
A descendent of Japanese field workers in Hawaii, Takaki spent his childhood in the Palolo neighborhood of Honolulu and surfed almost every day. From an early age, he was acutely attuned to the inequities in Hawaii's tough and ethnically divided plantation system, said Takaki's close friend, Roberto Haro.
Takaki has donated his research and published papers to the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Takaki's name to the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.
Date: Thursday, July 23 2009 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Place:1 South Van Ness Ave., 2nd Floor Atrium Room, San Francisco, CA
RSVP: Angela Pang 415-321-5894 or apang@asianweek.com
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