Michio Kushi (久司 道夫 Kushi Michio; born May 17, 1926 in Japan, died December 28, 2014, of pancreatic cancer) helped to introduce modern macrobiotics to the United States in the early 1950s. He lectured all over the world at conferences and seminars about philosophy, spiritual development, health, food, and diseases.
After World War II, Kushi studied in Japan with macrobiotic educator, George Ohsawa. Since coming to America in 1949, Michio Kushi and Aveline Kushi, his wife, founded Erewhon Natural Foods, the East West Journal, the East West Foundation, the Kushi Foundation, One Peaceful World, and the Kushi Institute. They had written over 70 books.
Kushi studied law and international relations at the University of Tokyo, and after coming to America, he continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City. Aveline preceded him in death (2001), as did their daughter (1995). Michio Kushi lived in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is survived by his second wife (Midori), four sons from his first marriage, and the resulting fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Kushi received the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers. In 1999, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History opened a permanent collection on macrobiotics and alternative health care in his name. The title of the collection is the "Michio and Aveline Kushi Macrobiotics Collection." It is located in the Archives Center.
Michio and his first wife Aveline were founders of The Kushi Institute, now in Becket, Massachusetts, but formerly in a converted factory building in Brookline Village, Massachusetts, adjacent to Mission Hill, Boston.