Toshi Seeger was born Toshi Aline Ohta on July 1, 1922, in Munich.[2][5] Her mother, Virginia Harper Berry, was an American originally from Washington, D.C., while her father, Takashi Ohta, was a Japanese exile from Shikoku.[2][5] Her grandfather, who had translated Marxist writings into Japanese, had been ordered to leave Japan. Takashi Ohta took his father's place, as permitted under Japanese law at the time, and went into exile. He met Virginia Berry while traveling, and they married and lived in Munich.[2] Toshi and her mother moved to the United States when she was six months old; a well known family story is her mother sent a telegram to her father "don't meet the boat" so that Toshi would not be seen as part Japanese when she arrived in the United States, for her safety. Toshi was raised in Greenwich Village and Woodstock, New York.[5] She attended the Little Red School House in Manhattan and graduated from The High School of Music & Art in 1940.[2]
She met her future husband, Pete Seeger, at a square dance in 1939.[2][5] The couple married in 1943 with an engagement ring bought with money borrowed from Pete's grandmother. In 1949 they moved to a log cabin without running water or electricity, with a view of the Hudson River.[2] She has been credited as the foundation of Seeger's personal and professional success.[1][2] Toshi, along with their children, went with Pete to his hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in Washington during the 1950s. Pete Seeger was cited for contempt of Congress in 1961, but his conviction was later overturned.[2]
When Pete Seeger's ban from television appearances for his political views was lifted in 1965,[5] Toshi produced and directed a public television series, Rainbow Quest, hosted by her husband 1965 to 1966.[5] Her official credited title for the show was "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer."[2]
Toshi and Pete Seeger co-founded both the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and its related musical offshoot, The Great Hudson River Revival, also known as the "Clearwater Festival".[5] She used the festival to rally public support for cleaning up the Hudson River.[2] Under her direction, the festival also instituted a number of ideas which were not utilized at other music festivals during the 1970s and 1980s, providing sign language interpreters, disabled-accessiblewheelchair access, and recycling programs.[5] She recruited up-and-coming musical artists to perform at the festival through its planning committee, including Tracy Chapman, before they achieved popularity elsewhere.[1] The Clearwater Festival now attracts more than 15,000 attendees to Croton Point Park each summer.[2]
Toshi Seeger died at her home in Beacon, New York on July 9, 2013, at age 91; [1][2] by her side were her husband and their youngest daughter Tinya Seeger, who had dedicated years of her life taking care of her parents. Toshi was preceded in death by her first child Peter Jr., who passed away as a baby; she was survived by her other three children: Tinya, Daniel, and Mika; six grandchildren, including singer Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, Cassie, Kitama, Moraya, Penny, and Isabelle; and one great-grandson.[2] Pete Seeger died six months later, on January 27, 2014, aged 94.[6]
