Robert Rokuro Omata's Obituary
Robert Rokuro Omata, 90
Scientist/Administrator
Dr. Robert Rokuro Omata, a retired Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and retired Scientist/Administrator at the National Institutes of Health, died on May 10, 2011 of lung cancer, at the Washington Baltimore Medical Center. He was 90.
Bob Omata was born and raised in Hanford, California, son of a businessman and a homemaker. When WWII broke out, he was in his senior year as a biology major at the University of California, Berkeley. He and his family were among 120,000 loyal American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were forced to evacuate their homes in several western states and live in Relocation Camps. He was in Arizona’s Gila River Relocation Camp.
After the war, he earned his B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota. He joined the U.S. Public Health Service as a Commissioned Officer.
Starting in 1949, Dr. Omata began a thirty-seven year career at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, becoming the Chief of International Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs within the Office of International Research which became the Fogarty International Center. He served three years at the NIH Pacific Office in the American Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. His administrative efforts helped to advance medical research and clinical practices in the United States and aboard.
In 1974, he established six bilateral National Cancer Institute Research Programs between the United States and Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Egypt and Poland to speed the flow of medical information internationally, for which he earned the Meritorious Service Medal from the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Omata retired in 1985, and often spoke to Maryland high school and college students about the experiences of Japanese Americans interned in the United States during WWII.
In 2009, Dr. Omata and his wife, Hiroko, each received an Honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters Degree awarded by the University of California and California State University to Japanese Americans whose college educations had been disrupted during WWII.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Hiroko K. Omata; a son, Douglas M. Omata of Sun Prairie, WI; two daughters, Robin K. Omata of Oakland, CA and Donna
R. Omata of Baltimore and two grandchildren. Donations in his memory may be made to The National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W. #106/236, Washington, D.C. 20016.
A private memorial service will be held.
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