By P.C. Staff
Gann Matsuda of Culver City, Calif., died Oct. 12. He was 61.
Known equally for his leadership and activism with the Manzanar Committee and his enthusiasm for National Hockey League team Los Angeles Kings, Matsuda is survived by his parents, Sue and Morley Matsuda, and many friends.
Matsuda’s involvement with the Manzanar Committee included organizing annual Manzanar Pilgrimages and overseeing its press relations, website and social media. He also was a leader in the movement opposed to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s proposed development of a large solar-power farm that many believed was detrimental to the viewshed at the Manzanar National Historic Site. (See Oct. 20, 2014 Pacific Citizen)
Matsuda was also a member of the Manzanar National Historic Site Advisory Commission, which led the way toward having the former Manzanar War Relocation Authority Center gain status as a national historic site. (See March 13, 1992 Pacific Citizen)
Related to his Manzanar Committee activism, Matsuda was also instrumental in the formation of Katari, described as a “grassroots organization devoted to educating and promoting dialogue with college-aged students around the Japanese American experience,” which began as Keeping Japanese American Incarceration Stories Alive.
Matsuda’s Japanese American community involvement stretched back to his days as an undergrad at the University of California Los Angeles, at which he was one of the founding members in 1981 of the UCLA Nikkei Student Union.
At that time, Matsuda was also a driver behind NSU’s support of the Japanese American redress movement, and later, the campaign for UCLA Professor Don Nakanishi to gain tenure.
As a hockey fan, Matsuda created and maintained the website frozenroyalty.net.
A celebration of life for Gann Matsuda is being planned and will be announced at a later date.
