Family Tradition Inspires Gift

"John" Kaichiro Nakayama, a former Samurai warrior, emigrated from Japan to the U.S. in 1905. He lived first in Kansas City and worked in a meat packing plant. The abrasive atmosphere of the packing plant led Nakayama to seek employment elsewhere.

He moved to Nebraska where he worked with a farmer of Swedish descent raising sugar beets and cattle. Nakayama's wife Tome (whom he first met in Japan) came to this country in 1915 and they subsequently married.

The cold winters took a toll on one of Nakayma's feet that had been severely frost bitten, forcing him to seek a warmer climate. The family was headed to Mexico but stopped in El Paso to wait for their second child to be born. While there, they learned about a parcel of land outside Las Cruces that was available. They leased this land which was a part of the old Shalem Colony settlement. Nakayama adapted the farming skills he acquired in Nebraska to the demands of the New Mexico climate. More On Nakayama Family.

Nakayama Professorship Recipients

2017 - 2020: Manoj K. Shukla
2014 - 2017: Manoj K. Shukla

• Shukla Bio and Progress

• Look to the Future - Fall 2011
  Spotlight on the Nakayama Family in the 1888 Society at New Mexico State University Newsletter

To support the "John" Kaichiro and Tome Nakayama Professorship for Research Excellence, please click the giving link above, or contact:

NMSU Foundation
Phone: (575) 646-1613
E-mail: foundation@nmsufoundation.org