The WSU Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures will hold a memorial Saturday for the professor who died in a car crash last month.

Kota Inoue, an assistant Japanese professor, died on Dec. 14 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Meridian, Idaho, after a crash on U.S. Route 95 just outside of Cambridge, Idaho.

Inoue’s vehicle crossed the center line during a heavy snowfall and side-swept a pickup truck and its attached horse trailer. Inoue was injured badly when livestock panels attached to the side of the trailer went through his windshield, said Justin Turrentine, Idaho State Police trooper.

Inoue was an expert in Japanese language and culture, a tenure-track faculty member, and was in his fifth year of teaching at WSU.

The celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education, Room 518.

Reporting by Dan Doucet