Founder of executive search firm

William “Mo” Marumoto, who grew up in a World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans and became a White House aide to President Richard M. Nixon, died Nov. 25 at a hospital in Falls Church, Va., after a heart attack. He was 73.

Marumoto, a resident of McLean, Va., founded an executive search firm in the mid-1970s and became known as the dean of Washington headhunters. Since 2005, he had been president and chief executive of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

William Hideo Marumoto was born Dec. 16, 1934, in Long Beach.

As a child, he and his brothers arose every morning at sunrise to stack the shelves, sweep the sidewalks and get his parents’ grocery store in Santa Ana ready to open.

“We were called the Rising Sons by folks in town,” he joked to friends later.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II, he and his family were herded with other Japanese Americans into internment camps.

Marumoto’s family was first sent to stables at the Santa Anita racetrack. They were later relocated by train to the internment camp in Gila Bend, Ariz., where the family remained until the war ended.

“That was my first and most unforgettable experience with the federal government,” he recalled.

After the war ended and the families were released, Marumoto graduated from Whittier College and worked for 10 years as director of alumni relations at Whittier.

After that, he worked in planning and development positions with UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts.

He moved to Washington in 1969 as assistant to fellow Californian Robert H. Finch, the secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, responsible for recruiting senior executives for the Office of Education.

In 1970, Marumoto was appointed a presidential aide responsible for filling Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions. Marumoto, whose professional and social affiliations were often firsts for Japanese or Asian Americans, spent his three years at the White House recruiting minorities into senior-level government jobs.

After leaving government service, he formed the Interface Group, which sought out candidates for chief executive, senior executive and director positions and specialized in the placement of top-level women and minorities.

He was founding chairman of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation and served on the board of the Japanese American National Museum, among other organizations related to his heritage. In addition, he was a board member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Jean Marumoto; four children; eight grandchildren; and two brothers.

Sullivan writes for the Washington Post, where this obituary first appeared.