Mr. Isao Okawa was born on May 19, 1926, as the second-eldest son to a clothing material wholesale dealer in Senba, Osaka.
Soon after graduation from the Specialized Department of Waseda University in 1948, he was forced to spend eight years fighting disease. Later, while helping his elder brother out with his accounting office, Mr. Okawa trained himself in business management.
When he attended a lecture session sponsored by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), he sensed signs of the advent of the computer-based information society and established Computer Services Corp. (later renamed to CSK Corp., one of the predecessors of the present SCSK Corp.) in 1968 at the age of 42. In 1982, CSK got listed on the stock exchange to become the first information service company to do so. Positioning AI (artificial intelligence), NW (network) and DB (database) as the “Three Sacred Treasurers” of the information age, CSK made a string of prior investments one after another. Furthermore, with the belief that the waves of informatization will spread from major corporations to households and individuals, CSK acquired Sega Corp. in 1984 and also participated in the management of companies such as Bellsystem24, Inc., ASCII Corp. and Quo Card Co., Ltd., establishing the corporate group with a broad spectrum of business areas in the information industry.
In 1986, meanwhile, Mr. Okawa invested his personal funds in the establishment of The Okawa Foundation for Information and Telecommunications (The Okawa Foundation). In addition, he advocated and exerted himself for the holding of the “Junior Summit,” an international conference of children with the theme of achieving international peace. He also donated ¥3.7 billion in personal assets to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for construction of research facilities for children in the future.
Furthermore, Mr. Okawa proactively provided funding for the restoration from the Great HanshinAwaji Earthquake and university education. In recognition of these achievements, Mr. Okawa was honored with a great number of decorations and citations, including the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, the Medal with Blue Ribbon and a Distinguished Guest of School from Waseda University. He was called to his eternal rest on March 16, 2001 at the age of 74.