S. Floyd Mori photograph collection, 1960-2005

Shiro Floyd Mori (1939-) was born in Murray, Utah in 1939. His parents were immigrants to the United States from Kagoshima, Japan. He is the seventh of eight children. The family later moved to Crescent (Sandy), Utah, where they farmed and where Floyd grew up. He attended schools in the Salt Lake Valley. After graduation from Jordan High School, where he became an All-State baseball player, he spent six months on active duty with the United States Army at Fort Ord, California, and was in the Army Reserve for several years. Between 1959 and 1961, Mori served a two-year missiong to Hawaii for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mori attended the University of Southern California and Santa Monica City College in the Los Angeles area and later attended Brigham Young University, from which he received a Bachelors (1964) and a Masters degree (1965) in Economics, Asian Studies, and Political Science.

Mori taught economics at Chabot College in Hayward, California, for ten years. During that time he became involved in politics and in 1972 he was elected City Councilman (1972) and Mayor of the City of Pleasanton, California, in the Bay Area. In March, 1975, Mori was elected to the California State Assembly. He served for six years in that capacity. During his legislative career, Mori authored legislation on tax reform, the unitary tax, spousal rape law, equality in women's college athletics, the creation of the Office of International Trade, and chaired the Oversight Committee to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Mori was instrumental in the creation of a Japanese Businessman Advisory Council to the Governor. After his legislative service, he served one year as Director of the Office of International Trade in California. Mori worked closely with the Japanese government in monitoring the med-fly problem in California and participated in several United States and Japanese business associations.

In 1983, Mori returned to Utah, where he initially worked as an executive vice president in a home building company and later in international business. Later, he became an International business consultant and served as president of Mori-Silva International. The company works primarily with American companies doing business in Japan. Some of the companies which he has advised are Subway Sandwiches, Pennzoil, Union Pacific Resources, Market Star, Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, Itochu, and others. Mori also does consulting work in government relations. He has served as the Utah Trade Representative to Japan.

Mori is an avid golver; as a result, he became part owner of a golf retail store and driving range. He has been active in various community, political, civic, and church organizations including Boy Scouts, youth sports, and inner-city ·service work. He has been on the Utah Governor's Asian Advisory Board and Small Business Administration Advisory Committee as well as serving on several municipal and regional boards in California. He also served on the Salt Lake County Mayor's Task Force on Golf.

Throughout his life, Mori has been active in building Japanese American community in addition to his work in international relations with Japan. In particular, he is a leader in the Japanese American Citizens' League (JACL), having served four year terms as national vice president and as president. Mori has served on the local chapter board of JACL for over twenty years. He served as president of the board of Alpine Country Club and is on the JACL Credit Union board as well as various other boards. He recently served in a bishopric of the LDS Church. He and his wife, Irene, have five children and nine grandchildren.