Yoshio Maeda's Obituary
Yoshio Maeda, 79 years young, passed away peacefully with family at his bedside in his San Leandro home on December 29, 2016, after a brief battle with stomach cancer. Yoshio was born on July 7, 1937 in Osaka, Japan, to Shizuko and Ototaro Maeda.Yoshio graduated from Kwansei Gakuin University in Osaka, Japan, in 1960. He arrived to the United Stated in 1962 as a student, sponsored by his uncle, Hideo Kawamoto, who lived in San Jose, California. He attended Heartnell Community College in Salinas, California, where he learned English. While at Heartnell College, he worked with his uncle in the strawberry fields. Yoshio later attended San Francisco State University to study International Business. While at San Francisco State, he worked at Sanpei, a local Japanese restaurant where he learned his basic Japanese cooking skills. During this time, he was introduced to his wife Chiye, by some friends. They were later married in 1964. Yoshio moved on to a sales career with Oriental Trading Company and later opened his own Japanese retail store, The Ichiban Shop in Japantown, San Francisco in 1968. After nearly 20 years of being an entrepreneur and living in San Francisco, he traded the city life for a semi-retired rural life in Sebastopol, and later moved to San Leandro to live with his son’s family in 2008.Yoshio took advantage of life and lived each day with passion. He will be remembered for being a dedicated spouse, his outgoing personality, and a curiosity for just about anything. He liked to study various topics in depth, tinker with the latest tech gadgets, and share casual conversations with friends. He also lived a youthful lifestyle with no fear. Yoshio enjoyed playing tennis and golf as well as bicycling and swimming. He also had a passion for the ocean and loved sailing, fishing, and abalone diving. He happily shared his catches with his family and friends by cooking Japanese meals for them.Yoshio is survived by his wife of 53 years, Chiye Maeda, his two children, Eugene Maeda (Vivian) and Christine Maeda (Steve), two grandchildren, Reese and Brayden, and two younger sisters, Kazuko Okahara and Hideko Mizuki, and their families in Japan.
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