H. Byron Earhart

Harry Byron Earhart, age 91, passed away peacefully at home in San Diego, CA, with his sons holding both his hands. Byron was born in Aledo, IL the third child and only son of Kenneth Harry Earhart (1911-2008) and Mary Louise (Haack) Earhart (1912-2008). He grew up in Havana, IL, where he met his high school sweetheart, Virginia Margaret Donaho. They were married September 2, 1956, a few years after graduating from Havana HS. He attended Knox College (1953-56) and the University of Chicago (1956-62), where he studied under Mircea Eliade and Joseph Kitagawa. A Fulbright Scholarship sent him to Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan (1962-65) to conduct field research under Ichiro Hori. He received his PhD (U of Chicago, 1965) and joined the faculty of the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) in 1966. He was the recipient of a Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from WMU (1981), a Distinguished Faculty Award from the State of Michigan (1982), and the Philo Farnsworth Award for his video, “Fuji: Sacred Mountain of Japan” (1991). Named professor emeritus (2005) by WMU, he taught adjunct courses until 2018. He authored several books covering different aspects of Japanese religiosity, was creator and series editor of the ten-volume Religious Traditions of the World (1986), and contributed numerous articles, abstracts, and book reviews to scholarly journals. His seminal textbook Japanese Religion: Unity in Diversity (1969, 5th revised ed 2014) was continuously in print for over fifty years. Over thirty prestigious academic grants and fellowships allowed him to regularly conduct academic research in Japan, spend a semester teaching in Korea (1973), and join one of the first groups of Americans invited to tour the People’s Republic of China (1978). His professional memberships included the American Academy of Religion, the Association for Asian Studies, and the American Society for the Study of Religion. After he and Virginia moved to San Diego in 1999, Byron enjoyed traveling, gardening, tennis, and bridge. Retirement allowed him to return to a desire of his youth, writing and publishing several novels as well as a memoir of his WWII childhood experiences, At Grandma’s House. Survived by sons Kenneth (Florence Fong) and David (Susumu Kamimura) of San Diego, CA, and Paul (Mary Minor) of Portland, OR; grandchildren Michelle Bearheart (Jack Bearheart) and Adrienne Earhart of San Diego, and Bryce and Dylan Earhart of Portland, OR; and great- grandchild Asa Bearheart of San Diego. Predeceased by his wife Virginia and sister Sylvia Heye, he is survived by sister Rosemary Watson of Havana, IL and numerous nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces. Graveside service at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Havana, Illinois, to be determined.

H. Byron Earhart

February 21, 2026

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