Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite (born Motoko Fujishiro, August 24, 1927 – May 4, 2020) was an American teacher. She served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. In 2015, she was awarded the

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

in a Washington, D.C., ceremony alongside Harry Ettlinger, another Monuments Man. Fujishiro Huthwaite also worked closely with the

Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art is an American IRS approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program during and after World War ...

and its founder

Robert M. Edsel Robert Morse Edsel (born December 28, 1956) is an American businessman and author. He has written three non-fiction books - ''Rescuing Da Vinci'' (2006), '' Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History' ...

to continue the mission of the MFAA.

Life

Huthwaite was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She graduated from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, the University of South Carolina, and

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. In 1941, she was sent to Japan as an exchange of nationals and was unable to get out of Japan after the outbreak of World War II. In 1945, she was recruited by

Langdon Warner Langdon Warner (1881–1955) was an American archaeologist and art historian specializing in East Asian art. He was a professor at Harvard and the Curator of Oriental Art at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. He is reputed to be one of the models for Ste ...

for the Japan division of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, working under George L. Stout. She later taught at the

American School in Japan The American School in Japan (ASIJ; ja, アメリカンスクール・イン・ジャパン) is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a ...

. She died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. state of Michigan were discovered on March 10, 2020, one day before the outbreak of the disease was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of December 20, 2022 ...

in 2020.

References

External links

COVID-19 Claims the Life of the Last Living Monuments Woman
Monuments Men Foundation category:1927 births category:2020 deaths Wayne State University alumni University of South Carolina alumni Radcliffe College alumni American expatriates in Japan category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan {{Improve categories, date=May 2020