Mari Yoriko Sabusawa

Mari Yoriko Sabusawa (July 10, 1920 – September 25, 1994) was a translator and the third wife of novelist James A. Michener, whom she married on October 23, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois.[1]

Early life

A second-generation Japanese American, Sabusawa was born to Harry and Riki Sabusawa and raised in Las Animas, Colorado.[2] Her family moved to California after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Her family was then placed in an internment camp. After her family was interned in California, she was part of a relocation program for Japanese American students. She was designated to Antioch College in Ohio where she received her degree.[2] After college, she translated Japanese propaganda for the US intelligence service before attending graduate school at the University of Chicago.[2] Sabusawa was editor of the American Library Association's Bulletin in Chicago in 1954 when she met her husband.[2]

Activism

Both Sabusawa and Michener were involved in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the USSR. Many Hungarians were killed, forcing many to flee. They made their home in Vienna a safe haven and helped many escape and make residence in the US. This would influence Michener's novel, The Bridge at Andau, 1957. She spoke out in support of American-Japanese marriages in the 1950s. Sabusawa urged her husband not to run for Congress as a Democrat in 1962. He did and lost and continued writing. She was encouraged and helped in the research of some of Michener's novels, such as, The Bridge at Andau, Hawaii, and The Source. Michener also wrote Centennial, written in 1974, which was later produced into a miniseries by the same name. It was filmed in part at Bent's Fort, close to Sabusawa's hometown of Las Animas, Colorado.

Death

Sabusawa died in Austin, Texas, on September 25, 1994.[1] She left a bequest of $5 million to the University of Texas at Austin for the construction of what would become the Blanton Museum of Art in addition to the hundreds of paintings the couple gave the University during their lifetimes.[3]

References
  1. "An Inventory of the James A. Michener Papers, Home Collection: Mari Michener (SC 1-31, Series 20)" (PDF). Archival Services, James A. Michener Library, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  2. "History & Mission". Blanton Museum of Art: The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
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