Ruthann Shigeko Kurose

Kurose died on 15 October 2026 at her home on Mercer Island, Washington, surrounded by family. She was 75. Her health had declined over the previous decade and a half from Parkinson's disease, and she had fought three bouts of cancer; no single cause of death was announced.

She was survived by her husband, her two children, her brother Paul, her sister Marie and a grandchild, and was predeceased by her parents and brothers Roland, Guy and Hugo. Karen Seriguchi of the Japanese American Citizens League said the community had suffered a loss, and the King County Council adjourned its 20 October meeting in her honour. Her family planned a celebration of life after the end of the year.

Ruthann Shigeko Kurose was born in Seattle on 2 August 1951. Her parents, Aki and Junelow "Junx" Kurose, had both been incarcerated during World War II. Her mother, held at the Minidoka concentration camp, taught at a Seattle elementary school for 25 years, became a respected peace activist and helped establish the Head Start programme in Washington state; Aki Kurose Middle School and the Aki Kurose Village housing complex bear her name. Ruthann later said her parents taught her that activism started at home, where her mother often hosted organising meetings in the living room.

Because of racially restrictive housing laws, the family lived in Seattle's multiracial Central District. Kurose attended Garfield and Franklin High Schools and majored in political science at the University of Washington. Her sister Marie recalled that she developed a commitment to crossing racial lines, supported the Black Power movement, and in the early 1970s worked with the Central Area Motivation Program helping Black, Asian and other young people of colour with college and financial aid applications. She served on the news staff of the Asian Family Affair with her brother Guy and started the Asian Drop-In Center for Asian youth on Beacon Hill.

In 1978 Kurose worked on the congressional campaign of Mike Lowry, drawn by his advocacy of Native American fishing rights and his willingness to support Japanese American redress. After his election he hired her, making her the first Asian American aide to a Washington state member of Congress. She and fellow aide Kathy Halley worked with the Seattle Evacuation Redress Committee to draft legislation, and on 28 November 1979 Lowry introduced H.R. 5977, the World War II Japanese-American Human Rights Violation Redress Act, the first bill to seek direct compensation.

Kurose contacted more than 100 members of Congress, slipping "Dear Colleague" letters under office doors and holding late night strategy calls with Seattle redress leader Cherry Kinoshita. The bill died in committee, but the principle that the government owed redress became law in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided a formal apology and payments of $20,000 to surviving incarcerees. Nash estimated that she worked at least 60 hours a week on redress in the key years.

In 1984 she joined the City of Seattle as international trade and tourism coordinator, a post championed by council finance chair Dolores Sibonga, and in 1987 she became international affairs manager for the City of Tacoma. In later years she chaired the Bellevue Community College Board of Trustees and served on the Seattle Center Advisory Committee, the Seattle Art Museum advisory board and the Wing Luke Museum capital campaign committee. Governor Christine Gregoire appointed her to the Washington State Liquor Control Board in 2007. She was also a member of the Asian Pacific Women's Caucus and mentored many younger Asian Pacific American leaders.

Kurose married Nathan Rothman in 1988. Their daughter Mika was born that year and their son Mori in 1989. A handwritten sign taped to the bedroom mirror read "Get up Dress up Show up, and Never give up", which her husband pointed to as a summary of her tenacity. She lost her mother and two brothers to cancer and was herself a cancer survivor several times over.

Kurose is remembered as one of the insiders who gave the Japanese American redress campaign its early legislative footing. Phil Tajitsu Nash said that while public memory fixes on the person who signs a law, it is often people like her who provide the vision, cohesion and institutional knowledge that move justice campaigns forward. One of her final contributions was helping raise funds for the Ron Chew Healthy Aging and Wellness Center, the first aging-in-place facility for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in Washington state.