Robert T. Matsui, 1941-2005: 'Good and decent man'

U.S. Rep. Robert T. Matsui, a Sacramento native who represented the region in Congress for 26 years and became one of the nation's leading Democratic voices, died Saturday night from pneumonia in a Washington-area hospital.

Matsui, 63, had been in the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., since Christmas Eve, and apparently had been in failing health since being diagnosed several months ago with a rare blood disorder that diminished his immune system.

Only his closest friends and family apparently knew of the diagnosis, and his sudden death left many shocked when his office announced the news early Sunday.

"I'm having a hard time catching my breath," said former Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "It's just a shock."

Matsui died at 10:10 p.m. and had been surrounded in recent days by his wife, Doris, and other family members, his office said. And as word spread, national leaders from both major parties issued statements praising his intellect and his civility in a partisan business.

"Bob Matsui was a dedicated public servant and a good and decent man who served with distinction and integrity in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 25 years," President Bush said in a statement released by the White House. "In the Congress, he was a leader of his party admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle."

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she was "shocked and despondent" over Matsui's sudden death.

"He has been part of my political life for more than 20 years, and he represented the best in politics," Boxer said.

Matsui, who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had just spent a grueling election year trying to get Democrats elected to Congress, had given no signs that his health was in peril.

His office, however, said he had been diagnosed recently with a form of myelodysplastic syndrome, which is sometimes called preleukemia and can inhibit the body's ability to produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

The disorder apparently led to him contracting pneumonia, his office said, and to his hospitalization, which took place without public notice.

The Rev. Faith Whitmore of St. Marks Methodist Church in Sacramento said her congregation was stunned when she announced the news of Matsui's death.

"There was just an overwhelming shock," Whitmore said. "We waited until the end, and there was this huge wave of shock at both services."

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said her conversations with his staff indicated that they believed Matsui would recover from his hospital stay.

"They thought he was just going to be in there briefly and be released," Fargo said. "They did not think it was a life-threatening situation at that point."

A spokesman for the Matsui family, Jim Bonham of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, would not discuss whether the family had decided earlier to keep the diagnosis secret.

"Bob and Doris are private people, as all of us are," Bonham said. "He had a lot of responsibilities. He wouldn't want anybody to get distracted."

The congressman is survived by Doris, his wife of 38 years; his 32-year-old son, Brian; daughter-in-law, Amy; and a granddaughter, Anna.

"Bob wanted me to express his most profound gratitude to all those he had the honor to serve and who made his life so extraordinary," his wife said in a statement released Sunday.

Services are pending, but Matsui is expected to be buried in Sacramento, where he was born Sept. 17, 1941, and eventually began his remarkable career. A special election will be held to elect his successor.

Matsui was a champion of civil rights and considered an expert on Social Security. He authored the landmark bill passed in 1988 that awarded payments to Japanese Americans held in internment camps during World War II, and he worked tirelessly to improve flood protection for the Sacramento region.

Born to a Japanese American family less than three months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Matsui and his parents were shipped to the Tule Lake internment camp during World War II, an experience that associates said had a lifelong impact on him.

The family returned to Sacramento after the war, and Matsui attended William Land Grammar School, California Junior High School and C.K. McClatchy Senior High School, graduating in 1959.

From there he went to the University of California, Berkeley, earning a degree in political science in 1963 and a law degree from Hastings College of the Law in 1966, graduating 34th out of a class of 260.

Matsui won a Sacramento City Council seat in 1971, serving the District 8 area that encompassed Greenhaven and south Sacramento.

He rose to become vice mayor in 1977, and at one point was prepared to run for mayor as a write-in candidate.

Instead, in 1978, he announced his candidacy for the Sacramento congressional seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Rep. John Moss.

Matsui won a bruising, three-way primary and then easily won election in the heavily Democratic district. Since that race, Matsui faced only token opposition in most of his races. He won re-election in November with 71 percent of the vote.

His only political setback came in 1992, when he waged a brief campaign for the U.S. Senate before dropping the effort and refocusing on his House seat.

At the time of his death, Matsui was the third-ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee and the ranking Democrat on the Social Security subcommittee.

During his career, Matsui served most of his time in Congress with a Democratic majority, and he earned a reputation on both sides of the aisle as a principled and civil leader, traits reflected in statements from Republican leaders Sunday.

"Bob was a dedicated Democrat who worked well with Republicans to get good things done for the American people," House Speaker Dennis Hastert said. "He was a leader in the truest sense of the word and leaves behind a remarkable record of accomplishment."

Matsui, however, had confided in some that he was disappointed in the partisan and sometimes brutal politicking that had taken over the Congress and much of Washington's daily life, and had earnestly hoped to achieve some Democratic gains in the last election.

"In recent years, Bob has become more frustrated by the inability to get much accomplished on a bipartisan basis," said former Rep. Vic Fazio, D-West Sacramento, who was elected to his own congressional seat the same year as Matsui. "I think he became more partisan out of his frustration over the inability of this Congress to operate in the manner in which Bob had let it operate when he was in the majority."

It was against that backdrop that Matsui agreed to chair the Democrats' campaign committee, something House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said was a natural for someone she called "a maestro" at politics.

But even as he worked to elect more Democrats, Matsui focused on representing his district and one of the area's prime concerns: flood control.

"That was the No. 1 issue when I was there," said Collette Johnson-Schulke, who served as Matsui's district director from 1991 to 1997. "We worked endlessly to get flood control."

After feuding with Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, for years over the issue of how best to protect the region, he reached across the aisle and worked out a deal to enhance protection from flooding by the American River, something Doolittle noted in a statement Sunday.

"As representatives from adjoining regions, we had the opportunity to work on a number of issues together, including the most contentious one - water," Doolittle said.

"Bob always had a warm greeting for me as I would encounter him in the tunnel or in the elevator," Doolittle added. "I came to appreciate his deep love of family, as he would share with me some new accomplishment of his son or granddaughter."

One of Matsui's greatest achievements also was one of his most personal, the passage in 1988 of legislation to provide $20,000 payments - as well as apologies - to Japanese Americans interned in camps in the United States during World War II.

Even before seeking public office, Matsui was heavily involved in the Japanese American community in Sacramento, serving as president of the Japanese American Citizens League as well as many other groups.

"For a somewhat quiet group, the Asian Americans, he became a national symbol," said political consultant Kam Kuwata, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "It's an emerging group that doesn't have as many outspoken heroes as some groups, but he certainly was somebody people from many walks of life could look up to."

Kuwata also recalled Matsui as a cheerful man with a quick wit and a sharp mind.

"He called me right after he was chosen to be the chairman of the campaign committee, and it was dead of winter back in Washington and pretty nice out in Southern California," Kuwata said. "And he said, 'Kam, I need your help, why don't you come back and help me?'

"I said, 'Bob, I'm sitting here and it's 70 degrees and I'm in a T-shirt and gym trunks. Can I do that in your office?'

"And without missing a beat he said, 'Sure, you can. You might be a little cold, but you can.' "

Robert T. Matsui

* Born: Sept. 17, 1941, in Sacramento.
* Confined in the Tule Lake internment camp with family, 1942-1945.
* Graduated C.K. McClatchy Senior High School in 1959.
* Attended UC Berkeley 1959-1963, earning degree in political science.
* Attended Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, 1963-1966, earning law degree.
* Married to Doris K. Okada, Sept. 17, 1966. Son, Brian Robert Matsui, born Feb. 16, 1972.
* Opened private law practice in Sacramento, 1967.
* Elected to the Sacramento City Council District 8, 1971; re-elected, 1975. Served as vice mayor, 1977.
* Elected to U.S. Congress in 1978, and won re-election 13 times.
* Died: Jan. 1, 2005.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Sam Stanton can be reached at (916) 321-1091 or sstanton@sacbee.com.