Mineta, the first Asian-American mayor of a major American city, was the only Democratic member of President George W. Bush's cabinet. He served as Secretary of Transportation from 2001 to 2006, including the al-Qaeda attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that prompted the temporary shutdown of planes countrywide.
Mineta had served as San Jose's mayor from 1971 to 1975, after having been the first person of color elected to the city council in 1967. From 1975 to 1995, Mineta represented the South Bay in Congress, where he also founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Mineta also served as President Bill Clinton's secretary of commerce. The Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport is named after him.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the city had "lost a great champion, and I have lost a deeply admired mentor."
Norman Yoshio Mineta was born in San Jose on Nov. 12th, 1931. When he was 12-years-old, he was interned along with his family at a camp in Wyoming along with tens of thousands of other Japanese Americans along the West Coast during World War II.
He later went on to study business administration at University of California at Berkeley and served in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea.
