Fujio "Fudge" Matsuda (October 18, 1924 – August 23, 2020) was the first

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest As ...

president of the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. This position also made him the first Asian American to become president of a major university in the United States.

Early life and education

Matsuda was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

on October 18, 1924 to Yoshio and Shimo Matsuda, immigrants from

Yamaguchi, Japan is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to ...

. Matsuda grew up in Kaka'ako, and graduated from McKinley High School in 1942. In 1943, Matsuda joined the 442nd Infantry. After World War II ended, Matsuda studied for two years at the University of Hawaii, then transferred and graduated from

Rose Polytechnic Institute A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

in 1949. In the same year, he married Amy Saiki. In 1952 he earned a doctorate in structural engineering from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Career

After earning his doctoral degree, Matsuda worked as a researcher at MIT for two years, then at the University of Illinois for one year. He then returned to Hawaii and taught in the University of Hawaii's engineering department from 1955 to 1962. During this time, he also worked at a small engineering firm. In 1962 he was appointed the director of the Hawaii Engineering Experiment Station, but was asked by John A. Burns to lead the

Hawaii Department of Transportation The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) is a state government organization which oversees transportation in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The agency is divided into three divisions dealing with aviation, maritime, and roads. HDOT Divisions A ...

, before he could assume that role. Matsuda led the Department of Transportation from 1963 to 1973. In 1973, Matsuda returned to the university as the vice president of business affairs. On July 14, 1974, Matsuda was appointed the ninth president of the University of Hawaii. During his tenure, several dormitories and eight buildings, including the Richardson School of Law, were built. He also reorganized the

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

system so that each one would have a

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. He resigned on May 31, 1984, and was succeeded by

Albert J. Simone Albert Joseph Simone (born December, 1935 in Boston, MA) is a former president of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Hawai'i System. Simone earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Tufts in 1957, and his PhD in econ ...

. In 1985, the Fujio Matsuda Education Center at

Windward Community College Windward Community College is a public community college in Kāneohe, Hawaii. It is part of the University of Hawaii system and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. Created in 1972, Windward Communi ...

was built and named after him. Matsuda eventually retired in 1996, after serving for ten years as the director of UH's Research Corporation and for two years as the president of the Japan America Institute of Management Science. After retiring, Matsuda was on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including for the

Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH, ja, ハワイ日本文化センター, ''Hawai Nihon Bunka Sentā'') is a cultural center and history museum in Moiliili, Hawaii that focuses on the Japanese-American experience in Hawaii, especially ...

just after its near-closure in 2003. In 2004, Matsuda was honored as a Living Treasure of Hawaii. Matsuda died at his home in 2020, at the age of 95.

References

External links

* Oral History Interview conducted by the University of Hawaii Center for Oral History
Oral History Interview conducted by the Japanese Cultural Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsuda, Fujio 1924 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American engineers Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology alumni University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Presidents of the University of Hawaii System American military personnel of Japanese descent United States Army personnel of World War II People from Honolulu County, Hawaii Military personnel from Hawaii Hawaii people of Japanese descent President William McKinley High School alumni