S I Hayakawa

Former U.S. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, 82, was hospitalized for tests over the weekend after having trouble breathing. Hayakawa, a one-term Republican who entered the public eye by putting down a 1968 student strike while president of San Francisco State University, was in stable condition at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif. "He's feeling pretty good," said his wife, Margedant.

I'll never forget the humor, charm and wisdom of S.I. Hayakawa. When this esteemed gentleman chose me to serve as his first congressional page in the U.S. Senate, my initial reaction was one of awe. But as I met and got to know Hayakawa, I found that this grand old man had a very human side. Upon my arrival in Washington, the senator and I had a candid, one-on-one conversation in his office about everything from the Senate to my social interests. He escorted me around the office and introduced me to his personal staff.

S. I. Hayakawa, the renowned semanticist who defied striking student radicals at San Francisco State University in the late 1960s and subsequently was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican, died Thursday. He was 85. Spokesmen at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif., said he had been hospitalized with bronchitis, and that he died of a stroke about 1 a.m. He had lived in the nearby town of Mill Valley.

S. I. Hayakawa, the renowned semanticist who defied striking student radicals at San Francisco State University in the late 1960s and subsequently was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican, died Thursday. He was 85. Spokesmen at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif., said he had been hospitalized with bronchitis, and that he died of a stroke about 1 a.m. He had lived in the nearby town of Mill Valley.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Hayakawa. While attending University of Wisconsin extension classes at Manitowoc, Wis., in 1937, I had the good fortune of having him as an instructor. As I recall, the courses I took from Hayakawa were English literature and creative writing. My fellow students and I found Hayakawa to be an excellent teacher. In addition to a fine command of his subject, his enthusiasm was contagious, and his sense of humor, contrary to his tendency to nod off at faculty meetings in later years, kept his students wide awake.

A small correction to Beverly Beyette's story on June 7 ("Going in Style"): (It says) "Hayakawa told an interviewer after losing to Pete Wilson in 1982. . . ." In 1982, I completed my one term in the U.S. Senate and having reached the age of 76, I decided it was time to retire and rest. I therefore announced that I was not going to run again. Some weeks thereafter, Pete Wilson decided to run for my Senate seat because I was not running. I did not lose to Wilson. I have never lost an election in my life.

In response to the letter from Christopher Martin Hirt titled "Officer's Past Is Cause for Shame" (Aug. 31), Officer Jose Vargas' "criminal history" of illegal entry from Mexico pales in comparison to our ancestors' illegal confiscation of Vargas' ancestors' land, namely the Southwestern USA. The average Mexican, or Mexican American, is 85% Native American. The average white person is more than 90% European or British by ancestry. Of course, this is our land now. As the late Sen. S. I. Hayakawa once said, "We stole it fair and square."

Harvey Yorke, 71, an aide to then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan and former U.S. Sen. S. I. Hayakawa who first gained prominence in 1968 as a spokesman for San Francisco State University during a violent student strike while Hayakawa was president of the university. He so impressed Hayakawa that the latter took Yorke with him to Washington when Hayakawa was elected to the Senate in 1970. Reagan hired him two years later as chief of the state information services.

The far-sighted vision of Kevin Forbes, the 19-year-old student crusading to make English the official language of the city of San Marino, is most commendable. Another student, Peggy Fastnow, courageously spoke out last year at San Marino High School, stating that Oriental and white students didn't mingle "because of the language barrier" (Times, June 8, 1985). Many students of history, including former Sen. S. I. Hayakawa of California and Gov. Richard Lamm of Colorado, are warning that our Southwest could become another Quebec with our current trend toward multilingualism.

After 16 years of legal battles, a federal appeals court ordered San Francisco State University on Monday to roll back the disciplinary action taken against 336 student protesters who participated in a 1969 student strike. The bitter four-month strike over control of the university's Ethnic Studies program catapulted then-university President S. I. Hayakawa to national prominence for his hard-line treatment of student activists. Hayakawa was later elected to the U.S. Senate.

Former U.S. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, 82, was hospitalized for tests over the weekend after having trouble breathing. Hayakawa, a one-term Republican who entered the public eye by putting down a 1968 student strike while president of San Francisco State University, was in stable condition at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif. "He's feeling pretty good," said his wife, Margedant.