K. Patrick Okura, 93, a psychologist who was among the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned during World War II and who later established a foundation for developing Asian-Pacific American leaders in the mental health field, died Jan. 30 of coronary artery disease at his home in Bethesda.
Mr. Okura and his wife, Lily, were among the 60,000 surviving Japanese Americans who in 1990 each received a $20,000 check and a written apology from President George H.W. Bush under the 1988 Civil Liberties Act. They used the money to further their efforts to educate Asian American mental health and human services professionals in how mental health services and policies are developed.
K. Patrick Okura, with wife Lily, was among the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned during World War II.
(1992 Photo James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)
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The couple founded the Bethesda-based Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation in 1988 to provide leadership development for promising young professionals.
Mr. Okura was one of the leading Asian figures in the health field and a civil rights leader who fought for the rights of Japanese Americans. He was president in 1962 of the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization.
"He was one of those individuals who was cut from the old civil rights cloth," said John Tateishi, national executive director of the league. "He was a strong believer in fighting for the downtrodden and also in attempting to level the playing field for everybody."
Okura also influenced how the U.S. government responded to health issues concerning Asian-Pacific Americans, Tateishi said. "He's the one who kind of cut that path for the entire Asian-Pacific community."
Kiyoshi Patrick Okura was born in Los Angeles, the eldest son of immigrant parents. He graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a bachelor's and, in 1933, a master's degrees in psychology.
In 1938, Mr. Okura began working as a personnel examiner with the Los Angeles Civil Service Commission, the highest city office held by a Japanese American. At one point, Mr. Okura was accused by a newspaper columnist of plotting to sabotage the city's water and power plants. The columnist also said the American-born psychologist was trying to pass as Irish by spelling his name K. Patrick O'Kura.
The mayor, heeding the false allegations, labeled Mr. Okura the most dangerous Japanese in the city. He twice asked Mr. Okura to resign, but Mr. Okura refused.
Shortly after Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, authorizing the forced relocation of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast.
