A.G. Kawamura

Arthur Gen Kawamura (born 1955) is an American politician and farmer who served as the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture from 2003 to 2010.

Early life Arthur Gen Kawamura was born in 1955, in Los Angeles, but he grew up in Newport Beach. His grandfather, Arthur Shinji Kawamura, immigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1900s and became one of the first people of Japanese descent to graduate from Santa Ana High School. In the 1940s, he, his son, Genji Gene, and his daughter-in-law, June, were interned at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. The Kawamura family later moved to Orange County in 1958 to take advantage of the strawberry business there.

Kawamura attended the University of California, Davis, originally majoring in agribusiness.

Although Kawamura was not initially focused on politics, his exposure in organizations such as the Western Growers Association led to him having the opportunity to enter it.

Personal life Kawamura is married to his wife, Diane. They have two children, Derek and Yvonne.