A Life of Service

Masaru Oshiro was a teenager when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  His parents, aliens, lost their land ,adjacent to Pearl Harbor, to confiscation. His first volunteer work wa with Korean War veterans. He served in the US Army, came home, went to UH, got masters degree in social work.  

He worked in Dept of Human Services when it still oversaw prisons, etc.  Stepped down, when governor considered reinstating death penalty; he felt as part of admin, he could not publicly disagree with his governor.

He worked for 12 years at the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center, where he served as social worker and executive director.  Masaru, fellow UH social work alumni and Honnpa Hongwanji Living Treasures Myron “Pinky” Thompson, Likeke Paglinawan and others recognized that clients didn’t respond well to classic western social work methods,  They resurrected ancient healing practices and helped create the classic two-volume resource Nana I Ke Kumu (Look to the Source), which is still widely used.

He felt that the leadership of the Center should be led by a native Hawaiian, and so groomed Haunani Apoliona to replace him.

He worked as head of behavioral (mental) health at the State Health Department.

He was named Social Worker of the Year three times by the National Association of Social Work, recognized by Elizabeth Dole for his American Red Cross work and twice listed in Men and Women of Hawaiʻi.

He headed Red Cross mental health efforts in Hawaii and on missions to 911, airplane disasters and hurricanes for years.

He was a dutiful only son, and took care of his mother into her 103rd year.  He remains a dutiful husband, father, grandfather and friend