UCC leader Teruo Kawata dies at 94
Influential United Church of Christ leader Teruo Kawata died July 1. He was 94.
Kawata, a Japanese American whose family was interned in an Arizona relocation camp from 1942 to 1944, was instrumental in creating the UCC’s Pacific Islander and Asian American ministries. He was also the first person of Asian descent to hold the office of conference minister in the Central Pacific Conference and in the Hawaii Conference.