Background
A Nisei, Ogawa was born in Lodi, California and never lived in Japan.
A Nisei, Ogawa was born in Lodi, California and never lived in Japan.
Upon his death, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to rename City Hall Plaza in his honor as the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. The plaza displays a bronze bust of Ogawa. Nevertheless, as Japanese Americans, the United States. government involuntarily relocated Ogawa"s family members to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Millard County, Utah and they were detained there for the duration of World World War World War II Ogawa married Grace Ogawa (née Hiruma) prior to their wartime detention and they had two children—Alan and Nancy.
Nancy was born in the Topaz War Relocation Center but died at age 2.
After the war, Ogawa returned to Oakland where he found work as a gardener. Eventually, he borrowed and saved enough money to open his own nursery.
When Ogawa died, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, in her Tribute to Frank H. Ogawa, said:
Ogawa served on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors from 1979 until 1992 when he had to retire from the Board because of health issues. He served as Chairman of the Board during most of 1987 and served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board"s Executive Committee and Personnel Committee.
Ogawa was a Republican.
However, he never held nor was he ever a candidate for any partisan office. As a public official, Ogawa was known as kind, optimistic, and adept at building consensus. In about December 1988, Ogawa underwent successful heart surgery.
Ogawa died in Oakland on July 13, 1994, of lung cancer.
More than 600 people, including a representative of Oakland"s sister city of Fukuoka, Japan, attended Ogawa"s memorial service.
Ogawa was a member of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) from 1972 to 1988, having been appointed to the Commission by the Association of Bay Area Governments.