History scholar Robert Sakai, 85
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Robert K. Sakai, a historian, University of Hawai'i dean and former president of the Japan-America Society of Hawai'i, died Aug. 15 in Honolulu. He was 85.
Sakai was born on April 3, 1919, in Riverside, Calif. He received a bachelor's degree in history at the University of California-Berkeley in 1941, but his graduate education was interrupted by World War II.
Sakai
Sakai and his fiancee were sent to different internment camps during the war. They eventually wound up in the Poston Relocation Center in Arizona, where they married.
Robert and Sady Sakai were able to leave the camp when Robert volunteered for the Military Intelligence Service. Following the war, Sakai received his master's and doctorate degrees from Harvard University.
From 1951 to 1966, Sakai taught at the University of Nebraska, where he also served as chairman of the history department. In the summer of 1964, Sakai was a visiting history professor at the University of Hawai'i and two years later joined the UH history department.
Sakai was a scholar of Japanese history and he had a long career with the university. In addition to his teaching duties, he served as UH summer session dean and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Following his retirement, he remained as a professor emeritus with the history department.
Sakai joined the Japan-America Society in 1980 and was its president for two terms in the mid-1990s. During his tenure, the society entered into a sister society relationship with the Japan-America Society of Hiroshima.
Sakai was a board member of the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation, which each year selects two UH graduate students to study in Japan for two years. He also was on the Japanese Consulate's screening committee for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
"He's just one great guy. He was really dedicated to students and to education," said Earl Okawa, Japan-America Society of Hawai'i president. "He and his wife Sady always opened up their home during Thanksgiving to invite the Japanese scholars over to their home to share in their Thanksgiving dinner. So they were really generous and really caring for the students."
In addition to his wife, Sakai is survived by a son, Robert; daughter, Ann; sister, Irene Futa; and three grandchildren.
Memorial service 6:30 p.m. today at Harris United Methodist Church. Donations to Japan-America Society of Hawai'i, P.O. Box 1412, Honolulu, HI 96806-1412, or University of Hawai'i Foundation, Sakai History Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 11270, Honolulu, HI 96828-0727.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
