Those We Lost in 2020
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2020 has been a year of extraordinary loss and suffering. As The Rafu
presents its annual listing of passings in the community, we offer our condolences to all those who have lost loved ones in this most difficult of years.
Following, in alphabetical order, are some of the notable individuals who passed away during the past year.
Sumako Azuma II
Sumako Azuma II (Janice Aiso Edesa), 61, on July 24. The North American representative to Azuma Ryū in Japan, she taught Japanese classical dance for 45 years, training 14 students to earn the natori degree and one to earn the shihan degree.
OBITUARY: Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Former President of Pioneer Center
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Hiroshi Yamaguchi, who served as president of Japanese Community Pioneer Center in Los Angeles and was active in many other community organizations, passed away due to an aortic aneurysm on Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City. He was 95.
Services will be private. A public celebration of life will be held after the coronavirus pandemic passes.
Born in 1925 in Visalia, Calif., Yamaguchi was sent by his parents to live with his aunt in the family hometown of Kagoshima, Japan. He stayed there from the ages of 8 to 23, which overlapped with World War II. After returning to the U.S., he later graduated from Stanford University and was employed as an engineer in the aerospace industry. He mentored many technicians who came from Japan and facilitated the development of various types of advanced technology in Japan.