Michele N. Tanaka ’78

Michele died Oct. 13, 2021, after her genetic osteogenesis imperfecta tarda made an unfortunate fall fatal for her. 

Always very close to her parents, Michele honored her family history. Her father taught high school while in a Japanese internment camp and served in the U.S. Army during World War II and as an economic analyst with U.S. occupation forces in Tokyo, where he met her mother. Michele attended National Cathedral School, started with the Class of 1977, and lived in Princeton Inn freshman year. She took a year off along the way, majored in East Asian studies, studied with Professor Marius Jansen, and graduated with us.

After graduating from Georgetown Law School, Michele joined her father’s law firm, specializing in U.S.-Japanese trade and investment matters. When the firm dissolved after her father’s death in 1992, she entered big law-firm practice and was with Shaw Pittman for many years before her medical retirement. As a lawyer, she treated her clients as though they were her family for whom she would do anything. 

Michele always cultivated an air of mystery about herself, collected ceramics and Asian art, and was involved with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She was an accomplished horsewoman until her illness made riding impossible, was devoted to her two Shih Tzus, and cared for her mother, who is now 100 years old. Michele was an inveterate traveler who experienced in depth the places she visited. We will miss her energy, elegance, and habit of command.