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Beate Sirota Gordon | |
|---|---|
 Gordon at the Japan Society in 2011 | |
| Born | Beate Sirota October 25, 1923 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | December 30, 2012 (aged 89) Manhattan, New York City, U.S.[1] |
| Citizenship | United States[2] |
| Alma mater | Mills College |
| Occupation | Performing arts presenter |
| Years active | 1943–2012 |
| Organizations | |
| Spouse |
Joseph Gordon
(m. 1948; died 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Jascha Horenstein (uncle) |
| Awards |
|
Beate Sirota Gordon (/beɪˈɑːteɪ/; October 25, 1923 – December 30, 2012) was an Austrian and American performing arts presenter and women's rights advocate. Born in Vienna, Austria, she moved to the Empire of Japan in 1929 with her father, the pianist Leo Sirota. After graduating from the American School in Japan, she moved to Oakland, California, where she enrolled at Mills College. Being one of the few people not of Japanese descent who was fluent in Japanese, she obtained work Office of War Information in the Foreign Broadcast Information Service of the Federal Communications Commission.
Sirota Gordon returned to Japan after the end of the war, assigned as translator to Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. She later was recruited to be one of the writers of Japan's postwar constitution, where she played an integral role in its mandating of equality between the sexes.
Following Sirota Gordon's return to the United States in 1948, she married and eventually became the performing arts director of the Japan Society and the Asia Society. In this role, she fomented interest in Japanese art and artists in the United States. She retired in 1991.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (January 1, 2013). "Beate Gordon, Long-Unsung Heroine of Japanese Women's Rights, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
Correction: January 4, 2013
- ^ Azimi, Nassrine (December 14, 2012). "Constitutionally Sound". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-01-01.