William Marumoto, 73; was Nixon aide, executive recruiter

WASHINGTON - William "Mo" Marumoto, 73 - who grew up in a World War II internment camp for Japanese-Americans, became a White House aide to President Nixon, and later owned an executive recruitment business - died Nov. 25 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia after a heart attack. He was 73.

Mr. Marumoto, a quiet, self-effacing man, founded his 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.

Mr. Marumoto - a resident of McLean, Va. - was born in Long Beach, Calif. As a child, he and his brothers arose every morning at sunrise to stock 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 US entry into World War II, he and his family were herded with other Nisei, or second-generation Japanese-American families, into stables at the Santa Anita racetrack. He was later relocated by train, under the eye of an armed FBI agent, to an 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, Mr. Marumoto graduated from Whittier College.

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

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

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