OBITUARY: Jimmy Hiroshi Koide

Jimmy Hiroshi Koide

Sept. 7, 1928 – May 5, 2022

KOIDE, JIMMY HIROSHI, 93, passed away May 5, 2022 in Albany, California. He was preceded in death by his wife Mariko Sekiguchi (2008) and sister Margaret Kusaba (2021), and is survived by sister Ruth Ichinaga, children Wayne (Suzie), Roger (Claudia), Karen (Sei), and Teri (Wade), grandchildren Donald, Timothy, Emma, Hana, Maia and Sam, and great-grandchildren Isis, Eve, Ala, Kanoa, Adelaide and Jane.

Jimmy was born in Oakland, California on September 7, 1928, the second child of Tohru and Tsurue (Furusho) Koide. During WWII, the Koide family was uprooted from their home in Berkeley and relocated to the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. Upon their release, Jimmy completed his senior year at Berkeley High School. In 1946, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Fukuoka, Japan, near his mother’s ancestral home. Jimmy graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts with a BA in 1954 and was thereafter employed as a commercial artist. Through his sister, Ruth, Jimmy met and fell in love with Mariko. They married in 1954 and first settled in Berkeley, moving to El Cerrito in 1960. In 2019, Jimmy moved to Belmont Village Senior Living in Albany.

He was an active member of the Christian Layman Church and forged strong and enduring friendships there. He loved teaching calligraphy at the J-Sei Senior Center, painting, tennis, and bowling, and he cherished his many friends from those activities. He touched all who crossed his path with gentle kindness. We remember him as a patient, thoughtful and loving man. He is gone from our sight but not from our hearts.

Memorial service: 2 PM, Sunday May 29, Christian Layman Church (Grand Advent SDA Church), 278 Grand Ave., Oakland. Please wear a mask to protect the elderly.