Utah’s first minority judge has died at the age of 93.
Raymond Uno sat on the Salt Lake Court bench in 1976, the first person of color to ever serve as a judge in the entire state. He advanced to the 5th Circuit Court two years later before being elected to the District Court in 1984 and retiring in 1990, according to Deseret News.
Prior to becoming a judge, he worked as an Assistant Attorney General where his impact is still being felt today.
“I was a benefactor my entire career of his kindness and steadiness,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said to St. George News. “While his influence was felt most locally, it carried across America and beyond.”
Uno was born in 1938 in Ogden, Utah and spent three years of his childhood behind barbed wire at the Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp where his father died nine months into his imprisonment of a blood clot in his heart.
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The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation says Uno served in the Korean War, was a leader in the fight for redress and fought for peace and human rights. He also served as national president of the Japanese American Citizens League from 1970 – 1972.
“Judge Raymond Uno was a pioneer and civil rights icon as the first ethnic minority judge in
Utah,” said Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Foundation. “Although
he always had a smile on his face and a positive outlook, his personal history and what he faced
at Heart Mountain was challenging and difficult. He never let that traumatic experience define
who he was.”
After he served in the army, Uno attended the University of Utah where he earned a law degree. He is survived by his wife Yoshiko, five sons and six grandchildren.
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