Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate from 2010 until his death in 2012, making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history. Inouye was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. Inouye fought in World War II as part of the famous 442nd Infantry Regiment. He lost his right arm to a grenade wound and received several military decorations. Returning to Hawaii, he earned a law degree and was elected to Hawaii's territorial House of Representatives in 1953, and to the territorial Senate in 1957. When Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, Inouye was elected as its first member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1962 he was first elected to the U.S. Senate. Inouye was the most senior U.S. senator at the time of his death. He is one of the longest serving U.S. Senators in history, second only to Robert Byrd. Inouye was the first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. 

September 7th, 1924 in Honolulu  /  Died:   Dec 17th, 2012 - aged 88