Pasadena City College’s Coalition of Asian Pacific Employees (CAPE) regrets to inform the campus community of the recent loss of Harry Kawahara on the 10th of May, our founding president and mentor. We will dedicate our 2024 Asian Graduation in his honor.
Kawahara was born in San Leandro (Alameda County) in 1931 to hard-working immigrants from Kyushu. When he was 8, he was unjustly interned at Topaz camp during World War 2. He was student body president of his 1949 class at San Leandro High School before pursuing degrees at UC Berkeley and Fuller Theological Seminary.
He was the first Asian American faculty at Monrovia High between 1965 and 1978, during a tumultuous time there. With the support of the Greater Pasadena JACL, Harry started the first Asian American studies class at PCC in 1971. Between 1978 and 2005, Harry was counselor at PCC, retiring as professor emeritus of counseling.
Harry Kawahara served on countless campus committees but was also active off-campus. He testified at the 1981 Commission on War-time Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings and helped the City of Pasadena to establish Fred Korematsu Day in 2011.
CAPE and campus friends extend our greatest sympathy to Jane and the Kawahara family.