The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation mourns the passing of board member Prentiss Uchida, 84, who died late Monday in the company of his wife, Kathy, and members of his family in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Prentiss was just 18 months old when he and his parents were forced from their home in Sacramento and sent to the Tule Lake, California, incarceration camp in June 1942. He was almost three years old when they were transferred to Heart Mountain in September 1943 as part of the segregation of so-called loyal and disloyal incarcerees.
After the war, Prentiss moved to Cupertino, California, where his family lived on a farm, before moving to San Jose. He received a BA in Mathematics from San Jose State University and upon completing college, worked for the Lockheed Missile and Space Company.
During the next 40 years, as a serial entrepreneur, Prentiss held positions in both private and public companies; including founder and CEO of Vector General (a pioneer company in interactive computer graphics), CEO of the Inner Game, and CEO of Secom General, a maker of automotive components. At Vector General he was the architect of the graphics workstation that generated real-time, dynamic three-dimensional images used in the original Star Wars movie.
As a Heart Mountain board member, Prentiss brought innovative approaches to attracting more visitors to our site and teaching about the impact of the wartime incarceration on young Japanese Americans.
“His business experience and financial expertise was a huge contribution to our building an efficient and effective foundation,” said Douglas Nelson, vice chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
Prentiss was a constant presence at the annual Heart Mountain pilgrimages and guided tours of the site. He shared his experiences as someone who had to deal with the unexpressed trauma of his childhood incarceration.
“Prentiss’ courage to engage with a difficult history was deeply inspiring, as was his commitment to preserve that history for generations to come,” said HMWF Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin. “His light is felt here at Heart Mountain as much as his absence.”