Kenji Murase

SAN FRANCISCO.—From a rural schoolhouse to the halls of Columbia University to the turbid classrooms of San Francisco State University in the 1970s, Kenji Murase overcame major obstacles to pursue a career in social work education and, ultimately, ex-pand the field to include the needs of diverse minority populations.

He died at his home in San Francisco at the age of 89 on Tuesday.

Born near Fresno to immigrant sharecroppers from Japan, he grew up poor, wearing hand sewn clothes made from rice sacks. He excelled in school, graduating at the top of his Reedley High School class. His un¬educated parents did not support his aspirations to go to college, so finally he ran away from the family farm, first to UCLA, then UC Berkeley.

His studies at UC Berkeley were interrupted by the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans in 1942. He made a desperate attempt to continue his education at Wayne State University, which admitted him but was unable to enroll him in the face of a public outcry that resulted in a resolution adopted by the Detroit City Council stating that the City did not welcome the Japanese American student.

Per Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, he joined the 120,000 other persons of Japanese ancestry who were removed by armed guards to desert prison camps away from the West Coast. Like others from the Central Valley, he and his family ended up in Poston, Ariz.

Meanwhile, a small band of university administrators, with the help of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, formed the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council to enable college-aged Japanese Americans to continue their education. Staffed by the American Friends Service Committee, the Council negotiated admissions, financial aid, and release from the prison camps for roughly 5,000 students, all of whom were subject to FBI clearance. Through this program, Kenji Murase was able to complete his education on the East Coast, earning a BA and Master’s of Social Work from Temple, and a PhD from Columbia in 1961.

As one of the first faculty members recruited for the new Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at San Francisco State University in 1967, he devoted his career to make the practice of social work more inclusive of diverse populations. He authored dozens of publications on the mental health and social service needs of Asian Pacific Americans, examining, for example, the help-seeking patterns of Southeast Asian refugees in San Francisco, and the mental health needs of Guam natives in California.

He served on the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Minority Affairs, as well as the National Association of Social Worker’s National Task Force on Minority Research, and consulted for the National Institute of Mental Health, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and the President’s Commission on Mental Health.

Over the course of his 33 year tenure, he taught thousands of students, many of whom are dedicated to public service, including Chief of Police Heather Fong, Airport Commissioner Caryl Ito, and Fire Commissioner Steve Nakajo.

As one of the primary architects of social services serving the Japanese American community in San Francisco, he wrote the original United Way proposal to fund United Japanese Community Services, the Japanese Community Youth Council, and Kimochi, Inc. which serves seniors. He also conducted the community needs assessments for the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California and the Kokoro Assisted Living Facility when both projects were merely ideas.

Survivors include his children Emily (Neal), Miriam (Greg), and Geoffrey (Christine), and grandchildren Junko, Izumi, Kenji, Noah, and Sakura. He is preceded in death by Seiko, his wife of 42 years.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, June 28, 4:30 – 6 pm at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, 1840 Sutter, San Francisco. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, www.jcccnc.org.