Kazuo Inamori

was a Japanese philanthropist, entrepreneur, Zen Buddhist priest, and the founder of Kyocera and KDDI. He was the chairman of Japan Airlines.

Inamori was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2000 for innovation in ceramic materials and solar cell development/manufacturing, entrepreneurship of advanced technologies, and for being a role model for relating science to society.

In 2011, he received the Othmer Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to progress in science and chemistry.

Biography

Kazuo Inamori was born on 30 January 1932 in Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan, to Keiichi and Kimi Inamori. He was the second eldest of seven children. Inamori graduated from Kagoshima University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in applied chemistry

After deregulation of Japan’s telecommunications industry in 1984, Inamori founded Daini Denden (DDI) Corporation. DDI later entered the cell phone business, merging with KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) and IDO (Nippon Idou Tsushin Corporation) in 2000 to form KDDI, which has grown to become Japan's second-largest telecommunication services provider. However, at the age of 77, the Japanese government asked him to come out of retirement to help save the national airline, Japan Airlines (JAL). Inamori became the president of Japan Airlines when it entered bankruptcy protection on 19 January 2010, and led the air carrier through its restructuring, eventually allowing the company to re-list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in November 2012. Inamori has been an International Advisor of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

On 24 August 2022, Inamori died at the age of 90.

Awards and honors Inamori has received many awards and honors, including: Honorary Doctorate from Kagoshima University, 1999