Ted Nagata was born in Santa Monica, California on October 5, 1935 to James and Toshi Nagata. In 1939, his family moved to Berkeley, California.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US government, fearing espionage, issued Executive Order 9066 which ordered all people of Japanese descent on the west coast to be incarcerated immediately to inland camps because they looked like the enemy. Ted, his older sister Carol, and his parents were among those incarcerated in Topaz, Utah, despite being 2nd and 3rd generation Japanese Americans. They lost everything they owned, and could only bring with them what they could carry.
After the war, his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Early on, Ted and his sister spent time living at St Anne’s orphanage because his parents could not care for them. He had fond memories of the orphanage and he enjoyed his time there. He later attended Jackson Elementary, Horace Mann Junior High, and graduated from West High School in 1953. After high school he worked at Hotel Utah to pay for his college education at the University of Utah. He was one of the first students to graduate with a Masters’ Degree in Commercial Art. Alvin Gittins, Keith Eddington, Sherm Martin and Doug Snow were professors at the University who had a great influence on Ted.
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