Ruth K. Watanabe ’59

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Within the Japanese-American community, Ruth Watanabe is something of a legend. Working tirelessly and unselfishly for more than two decades, she has been instrumental in the development of institutions that have advanced significantly the culture and services available to Americans of Japanese ancestry.

Watanabe’s many activities reflect her keen interest in several key areas. For more than 20 years she served as a director of the Memorial Hospital of the Japanese Community, a nonprofit charitable health care organization. Since 1972, she has been a trustee of Keiro Services, a nonprofit charitable institution that owns and operates nursing homes, and intermediate care facility and a retirement home and has either chaired or co-chaired all of Keiro’s fundraising activities.

A driving force on the board of directors of the Japanese-American Cultural and Community Center for 10 years, she recently turned her organizational abilities to another project, serving as a founding trustee of the Japanese American National Museum, which will collect and preserve all important historical data and documents of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

On campus, Watanabe’s dedication to UCLA and the Japanese-American community has prompted her to co-chair two major fundraising projects: an endowed chair focusing on Americans of Japanese ancestry and the West Center’s Americans of Japanese Ancestry Founders’ Patio. She is also a founding member of the Asian Pacific Alumni of UCLA.

It would be difficult to find a person more energetic and more committed to bettering the community in which she lives – or more deserving of recognition of her extraordinary efforts.