UH alumna creates endowment at UH Hilo
Harriet Hatsune Natsuyama, an alumna of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has established an endowment to support sustainable agriculture research at UH Hilo.
The Natsuyama-Otsubo Family Initiative Fund will be used to support applied research activities in natural systems ecology, agroecology, sustainable agricultural production and island community food systems at the UH Hilo College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management.
Natsuyama also has committed 100 percent of the remainder of her charitable trust to establish the Natsuyama-Otsubo Family Initiative Endowment upon her passing.
The Natsuyama-Otsubo Family Initiative Endowment celebrates three generations of the Natsuyama-Otsubo family of Honolulu. The first generation consists of Sentaro Otsubo and Yone Narahara Otsubo, immigrants from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, the nisei generation of Kenjiro Natsuyama and Yakue Natsuyama and two sansei (third generation) sons, Ernest Kenji Natsuyama and Eric Ben Natsuyama.
The first two generations had limited schooling, and yet they encouraged the third generation to acquire a good education and contribute to society.
“Our family is important to us,” says Natsuyama. “The values our family hold are noble. The impact we make through our giving will be our legacy.”