Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda, noted Seattle nonprofit social service leader and UW School of Social Work alumni, passed on Dec. 2, 2015 at the age of 91.
During his 54-year career in the social work field, Ikeda demonstrated an unwavering dedication to advocating for the
needs of youth and minorities, and working to create public policy changes that benefited low-income families and people of color. His efforts shaped politics, policy, management and the practice of social work at the local, state and national levels. In 2005, the School of Social Work recognized Ikeda for his rich contributions to the field of social work and the communities he served with the School of Social Work Distinguished Alumni Award.
During World War II, Ikeda was incarcerated for 19 months in an American internment camp with 120,000 other individuals of Japanese descent—an experience that would deeply inform the trajectory of his life in service. As Ikeda walked from freedom to imprisonment, he vowed he would spend his life working for those without a voice, according to National Association of Social Work Foundation records. After his time in the internment camp, Ikeda served, along with more than 33,000 other Americans of Japanese descent, in the U.S. Army until the end of the war. Ikeda and other Nisei (second generation) World War II veterans were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 2011.
Ikeda earned his MSW degree from the UW School of Social Work in 1951. Soon afterward, he took a job at Neighborhood House. In 1953, he was named executive director of Atlantic Street Center (pictured right with two employees)—the first Asian American to serve in that position, which he held for 33 years. Afterward, he founded his own consulting firm, Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda & Associates, from which he retired in 1999. Among his many achievements, Ikeda was one of the founding members of the Minority Executive Directors Coalition of King County, which played a major role in advising the City of Seattle on minority issues.
Ikeda is survived by his widow Sumi; four daughters: Wanda Ikeda, Helen Ikeda-Gomes, Julie Oshiro, Patricia Matsumiya; and seven grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Monday, Jan. 18, at 11 a.m., at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, 3001 24th Ave. S., in Seattle.