Norman Yoshio Mineta rose to be San Jose's mayor, spent two decades in Congress and served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation during 9/11. But his memories as a young boy interned with his Japanese-American immigrant family during World War II had the most powerful influence on the groundbreaking political figure who decades later led the fight for reparations.
Mineta died Tuesday at age 90 of heart failure at his home in Maryland.
He built a national reputation over a long political career as a Democrat who served in the cabinet of a Republican president and as the man who was instrumental in the creation of the Transportation Security Agency. But his story began in San Jose, where he was born and which named Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport in his honor in 2001.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who got his start in public service working as an intern in Mineta's Congressional office in Washington, D.C., when he was 18, said he was saddened by the loss of a mentor he admired and a champion of San Jose.
"Like so many of those fortunate to have worked with Norm, I learned enormously from his calm leadership style, his deadpan humor, and his sincere love for public service," Liccardo said.
I thought he died years ago.
