Newsmaker
Monday, July 28, 1997
Name: Siegfred Kagawa
Age: 65
Education: University of Pennsylvania
Occupation: Chairman, Occidental Underwriters of Hawaii
Siegfred Kagawa's family was interned in Arkansas during World War II and then released to live in Des Moines, Iowa. The fighting was still going on, and Kagawa -- at the time entering his teens -- sometimes found himself the target of wartime passions. Scouts' good deed repaid
"People would come and they would try to pick a fight on you and stuff like that because, after all, I looked like the enemy, right?" he recalled.
The period might have been lonely for the transplanted youth except for some Boy Scouts who lived nearby. Going against the popular prejudice, they welcomed him to play football and accompanied him to and from school. "They kind of adopted me," he said. "I was safe and I had friends."
Kagawa didn't forget the good turn when his family eventually returned to Hawaii. For 45 years, most of his adult life, he volunteered to help the Boy Scouts. And the organization didn't forget him: On May 30, at ceremonies in Orlando, Fla., it presented him with the Silver Buffalo Award, its highest and most prestigious volunteer honor. He was one of eight receiving the award this year, joining a list that includes Charles Lindbergh, Walt Disney, Hank Aaron, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gen. Colin Powell.
Kagawa currently sits on the Japanese Cultural Center's board of governors, and in the past was chairman of Bishop Museum, a Hawaii Pacific College trustee and Aloha United Way vice president. He has been president of the Boy Scouts' Aloha Council Executive Board and in 1991 was elected to the national board.
Kagawa, a Kahala resident, has a son who became an Eagle Scout and now works with him as a manager at Occidental. He encourages youths to become scouts, calling it a character-building movement and citing the Boy Scout oath, which begins, "On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty ... "
"You know, how many institutions teach young people about honor and about doing their best?" he said. "To me, that's a remarkable thing."
Star-Bulletin staff
