Gdynia Maritime University GMU

The Chair of IAMU, Yohei Sasakawa, was born in Tokyo on 8th January 1939. He is also the Chair of The Nippon Foundation, a private, non-profit foundation established in 1962 to carry out philanthropic activities.

Mr Sasakawa joined The Nippon Foundation in 1981, after 20 years in the world of business. He is known for bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to his work with entities from the political, governmental, academic, and private sectors in addressing issues in such diverse areas as health, education, food security, and maritime safety.

His global fight against leprosy and its accompanying stigma and social discrimination is an issue to which he has remained highly committed for more than 40 years.