Bob Matsui
Robert Takeo Matsui (born September 17 1941 - January 1 2005), American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1979, representing the 5th District of California. In the 2004 election cycle, he was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
A third-generation Japanese American, Matsui was born in Sacramento, California and was six months old when he and his family were taken from Sacramento and interned by the U.S. government at the Tule Lake camp in 1942.
Matsui graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Hastings College of Law. He founded his own Sacramento law practice in 1967 and was elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1971. He won re-election in 1975 and became vice mayor of the city in 1977.
In 1988, Matsui helped shepherd the Japanese-American Redress Act through Congress, in which the government formally apologized for the World War II internment program and offered token compensation to victims. He was also instrumental in the designation of Manzanar internment camp as a national historic site and in obtaining land on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the memorial to Japanese American patriotism in World War II.
He was married to the former Doris Okada, who is Senior Advisor and Director of Government Relations at the firm of Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC. Until December 1998, Doris Matsui worked as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Public Liaison for President Bill Clinton. The Matsuis had one grown son, Brian, who received his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University.
In the 2004 federal election, he faced Republican Mike Dugas as his strongest opponent in the General Election for the 5th Congressional District. Matsui was re-elected to office with 71.4% of the vote, compared to Dugas' 23.4%. Green Party opponent Pat Driscoll and John Reiger of the Peace and Freedom Party won 3.4% and 1.8% of the vote, respectively. [1] (DCCC chairs are chosen in part because they are not expected to face serious competition for re-election.)
Matsui entered Bethesda Naval Hospital on December 24, 2004 with pneumonia. It was a complication from Milo Dysplastic Disorder, a rare stem cell disorder that causes an inability of the bone marrow to produce blood products, such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. He died on January 1, 2005. Upon learning of Matsui's death, fellow Californian and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying, "With the passing of Bob Matsui, our country has lost a great leader and our seniors have lost their best friend in Congress."