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Betsy Arakawa

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Betsy Arakawa
Arakawa with her husband, Gene Hackman
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Background information
Birth nameBetsy Machiko Arakawa
Born(1959-12-15)December 15, 1959
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Diedc. February 12, 2025(2025-02-12) (aged 65)[1][2]
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
GenresClassical
InstrumentPiano
Spouse
​
(m. 1991)​

Betsy Machiko Arakawa Hackman (December 15, 1959 – c. February 12, 2025) was an American classical pianist and businesswoman. Born in Hawaii, she performed alongside the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra aged eleven and later worked for the television game show Card Sharks as a production assistant. She met Gene Hackman in the 1980s, marrying him in 1991 and assisting with his novels. In 2001, she co-founded a linens and home furnishings store in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she and Hackman lived; the couple were also business partners in a local Asian restaurant.

Arakawa was found dead along with her husband at their home in Santa Fe on February 26, 2025. This led to an investigation, which showed that she died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome around February 12, about a week before Hackman.

Life and career

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Arakawa playing the piano as an 11-year old, 1971

Betsy Machiko Arakawa was born on December 15, 1959, raised in Honolulu, Hawaii,[3][4] and was of Japanese descent.[5] An only child, she was raised by her mother who was a businesswoman.[6] She went to Kahala Elementary School and Punahou School, the same private school as Barack Obama.[6][7] As a child, Arakawa studied piano with Ellen Masaki and performed at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall at age eleven,[7] where she performed the final movement of Joseph Haydn's Keyboard Concerto in G major alongside the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.[7] Arakawa studied social sciences and communication at the University of Southern California from 1981 to 1983.[3][4] She later completed a master's degree in liberal arts at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[3] During a summer break, Arakawa served as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team, and worked for the television game show Card Sharks as a production assistant.[8]

Arakawa met Hackman in the 1980s while working part-time at a Los Angeles fitness center.[3] In 1989, she performed at the Altenheim Geriatric Center in Forest Park, Illinois, which appeared as a nursing home in one of the films Hackman starred in, The Package.[9][10] Arakawa and Hackman acquired a property on Old Sunset Trail, a residential area in the mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico.[6] There, they worked with architects to convert a 1950s block building into a house that was "light and soaring", drawing on a unique blend of local pueblo and colonial styles, and acquired furniture during their travels.[11][12] Their home also had a separate studio building, which had Arakawa's grand pianos on one side and Hackman's art studio on the other.[12] The house was featured in Architectural Digest magazine in April 1990.[12]

Arakawa married actor Gene Hackman in 1991.

After dating for seven years, they married on December 1, 1991, aged 31 and 61,[13] after which she stopped performing in concert.[3] In Hackman's later life, he wrote and published three historical novels with anthropologist Daniel Lenihan; Arakawa assisted by typing up Hackman's handwritten notes, editing, and providing feedback.[3][6] In the acknowledgments of the 2004 novel, Justice for None, the co-authors thanked her for intervening when their disagreements became heated.[6] In 2001, Arakawa and her close friend Barbara Lenihan co-founded a linens and home furnishings store in Santa Fe named Pandora's, which she ran until her death.[3] Arakawa and Hackman were also business partners in a local Asian restaurant called Jinja, where she had helped with the menu.[6]

Arakawa was last seen alive at a CVS Pharmacy on February 11, 2025 and returned to their gated community at 5:15 pm.[14] On February 12, 2025, Arakawa called a physician, who runs a private health clinic in Santa Fe, and made an appointment for that afternoon, but did not show up.[1] Arakawa died in their home a short time later from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease passed from rodents.[15] Two weeks later, neighborhood security found the Hackmans and one of their three dogs dead in their home after maintenance workers had alerted them, concerned that the couple failed to answer the door; in the ensuing investigation, their deaths were initially treated as suspicious.[16][17] Arakawa's cause of death was announced at a press conference on March 7, 2025 by investigators, who also announced that she had died about a week before her husband, who died from heart disease.[1][18][19]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Moots, Sumiko; Romero, Dennis (March 17, 2025). "Calls to medical clinic show Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman's wife, was alive longer than previously believed". NBC News. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  2. ^ "Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes several days apart, officials say". BBC News. March 7, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Wolfe, Jonathan (February 27, 2025). "Betsy Arakawa, a Classical Musician and the Wife of Gene Hackman, Dies at 65". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2025. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Bedayn, Jesse; Billeaud, Jacques (February 28, 2025). "What to know about Hollywood icon Gene Hackman's and his wife's deaths". AP News. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  5. ^ Hayes, Kelly (February 27, 2025). "Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa found dead in Santa Fe home: What we know". Fox TV Stations. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Beauregard, Luis Pablo (March 17, 2025). "'Gene depended heavily on Betsy, and she on him as well': Friends shed light on Hackman's secretive life in Santa Fe". El País. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Concert Star". Honolulu Star Bulletin. April 3, 1971. p. B-5. Retrieved February 27, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ Chapman, Don (August 24, 1981). "Hawaii Report". Honolulu Advertiser. p. A-3. Retrieved February 27, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "Getting Savaged: Black community leaders involved with saving..." Chicago Tribune. March 6, 1989. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  10. ^ Yam, Kimmy (February 27, 2025). "Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman's wife, was a businesswoman, former pianist and decades-long companion". NBC News. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  11. ^ Taylor, Joan Chatfield (April 1990). "Gene Hackman: Santa Fe Spaces for The French Connection's Best Actor". Architectural Digest. pp. 230–237. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Briese, Nicole (March 10, 2025). "All About Gene Hackman's Wife, Classical Pianist Betsy Arakawa, Who Died Alongside the Actor and Their Dog". People. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  13. ^ Shelley, Peter (2018). Gene Hackman: The Life and Work. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-4766-7047-8.
  14. ^ Jervis, Rick. "A mask, a cane and a frantic dog: Inside the final hours of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  15. ^ Stahl, Jay. "Gene Hackman cause of death released". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  16. ^ Moreau, Jordan (February 27, 2025). "Gene Hackman and Wife's Death Ruled 'Suspicious' in Search Warrant: 'No Obvious Signs of a Gas Leak' and 'Thorough Investigation' Required". Variety. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  17. ^ Jacobs, Julia; Watkins, Ali (February 27, 2025). "Scattered Pills Found Near Body of Hackman's Wife As Inquiry Continues". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2025. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  18. ^ "Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes about a week apart". BBC News. March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 9, 2025.
  19. ^ Brown Chau, Nicole (March 17, 2025). "Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, called medical concierge service before she died, authorities say". CBS News. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
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