Archives West Finding Aid

Donald Kazama was born in 1915. He worked for the United States Veterans Administration from 1950 until his retirement in 1976. He was married to Sally Kazama (nee Shimanaka) who was also a social worker. Aside from his professional work, Kazama was involved in many civic activities. Grouped into broad categories reflecting his primary interests, these were the elderly, elderly Asian-Americans, Japanese-Americans, general civic concerns, and personal/professional concerns. Some of the organization were the Japanese-American Citizens League, Central Seattle Community Council, Asian-American Alliance, Seattle Department of Human Rights, Seattle Model Cities Program, Council of Planning Affiliates, Coalition for Quality Integrated Integrated Education, Seattle-King County Aging Division, Seattle-King County Planning Council on Aging, among others. Also among the groups he was associated with was the State-Wide Task Force on Life Support. This group advises and monitors policies regarding treatment of terminally ill patients and death-with-dignity rulings. He died in 1986.