| CJAAA LOST ONE of its most treasured friends in 1997. Yori Wada, former Regent of the University of California, succumbed to cancer on Thanksgiving Day 1997, at the age of 80. One of the most respected civil rights advocates in the Bay Area and considered among the top Asian Americans throughout the nation, Yori is best remembered for his warm smile, kind words, and gentle wisdom.
Yori was born and raised in Hanford in the Central Valley of California and attended UC Berkeley, where he graduated in 1940 with a degree in journalism. Drafted into the US Army in June 1941, he served with the famous 442ND Regimental Combat Team until he was assigned to Military Intelligence and served with the MIS in the Pacific.
He served as the executive director of the Buchanan Street YMCA until 1962, when he retired after a lifetime of community service. During that time and after, he served on numerous boards and commissions, far too numerous to even begin to mention here.
He was honored as the first YMCA professional when he received the organization's "Humanitarian of the Year" award. The San Francisco Foundation honored him with its prestigious Robert C. Kirkwood award, and the San Francisco Examiner chose him as one of the Bay Area's 10 outstanding citizens in 1978.
Governor Jerry Brown appointed Yori to the UC Board of Regents in 1966, the first and most distinguished Asian American regent in the 109-year history of the university. Considered a liberal maverick on what a conservative board, he was a critic of the institution's involvement in nuclear weapons research and its strongest supporter of affirmative action policies.
In 1992, he was honored with the UCSF Medal, the highest honor the campus bestows, for his UC service and his championing of civil rights.
The San Francisco Examiner noted in its obituary that Yori is still a legend in the Western Addition of the City, where he often got up in the middle of the night to rescue kids in need or to shelter them in his own home. "The Buchanan Y was really a neutral zone for all the kids in the neighborhood," noted Fred Lau, San Francisco police chief. "If kids were in trouble, they'd go look for Mr. Wada."
In a 1992 speech during Asian Pacific Awareness Week at UCSF in which he urged the audience to help young people, Yori said
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"If there is anyone around in later years to study the history of this time and of this place, they will know... that there were many here who with youth in their souls and courage in their hearts, tried to be educators of the young and of their peers. They will know that some of us knew we had a chance, and that having a chance, we tried. They will know that we were part of the continuity of history and that we did not turn away from the opportunity to make a difference."
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Yori will be sorely missed by all of us.
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