Sofia Adamson

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Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

Sofia Adamson (August 24, 1916 - May 19, 2007) was a Greek immigrant who founded the Pacific Asia Museum in Los Angeles, co-founded Adamson University in the Philippines, and worked for General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines.

[edit] Biography

Adamson was born Sofia de Mos in Pocatello, Idaho on August 24, 1916 to Greek immigrant parents. Her father was one of the first Greek film producers.

She attended the University of California Los Angeles and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in education in 1937. She married George Adamson in 1939 and moved to the Philippines to co-found Adamson University with his cousins. She is credited with founding Adamson's College of Education.

In 1941, two US Army majors recruited Sofia to work in General MacArthur's office in the Philippines. She sat a few feet from MacArthur's office and typed the orders he gave to the troops. Sofia remained in Manila after General MacArthur fled the Philippines for Australia and the Japanese gained control of Manila. She lived under Japanese occupation for three years. Due to their Greek heritage, the Adamsons were not imprisoned by the Japanese. A 1945 Los Angeles Times article stated that she and her husband were "the only two white persons who had a grand seat during the entire surrender, Japanese occupation, and finally the recapture of Manila." During the return of the Americans to liberate Manila, Sofia and her husband were wounded. She was wounded by friendly fire from the Americans in the neck and leg, which required numerous surgeries to regain her walking ability. Sofia was awarded the Purple Heart fifty years later for these injuries. "And believe me," she told a reporter for "ABC World News This Morning," "this award came, and I've forgotten all about the pain."

She returned to Los Angeles with her husband in 1946 and became active in the Greek-American community. In 1971, Sofia co-founded the Pacific Asia Museum to showcase the arts and culture of the Pacific islands and to make it acceptable to a broader audience. In 1982, Sofia wrote her autobiography titled Gods, Angels, Pearls and Roses. Gods referring to her Greek heritage, angels to her childhood in Los Angeles, pearls to Manila, and roses to her life in Pasadena.

Sofia Adamson died of a heart attack on May 19, 2007 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California at the age of 90. Her death received widespread coverage in media outlets and Sofia was profiled on ABC News' This Week in the "In Memoriam: Lives of Note" section.