Arbegast, Mai Kitazawa

Biographical Note

Mai Arbegast was born in San Jose, CA in 1922. Her father Gijiu Kitazawa and his brother Buemon started the Kitazawa Seed Company and nursery in 1916. When they split the business a year later, Arbegast's father moved the seed brokerage to a downtown San Jose storefront and sold seeds wholesale and retail, adding his own line of Asian vegetables. This became the main seed source for the growing population of Japanese tenant farmers in California and Oregon. In an interview Mai recalled, "I spent much of my early life in boots stomping on particular tomatoes and collecting the seed for further crosses."

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