Nao Takasugi
| Nao Takasugi | |
|---|---|
Gravestone at Ivy Lawn Cemetery,
Ventura, California |
|
| Member of the California State Assembly | |
|
In office 1992–1998 |
|
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | Tony Strickland |
| Constituency | 37th Assembly District |
| Majority | 999,393 (59.59%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 5, 1922 Oxnard, California, U.S. |
| Died | November 19, 2009 (aged 87) Oxnard, California |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Judy Takasugi |
| Children | Scott, Russell, Ron, Tricia and Lea |
| Alma mater |
University of California, Los Angeles Temple University Wharton School of Business |
| Occupation | Politician |
Nao Takasugi (April 5, 1922 – November 19, 2009) was an American politician from California, a member of the Republican Party, and a survivor of the Japanese American internment camps.
Born and raised in Oxnard, California, Takasugi was the valedictorian of his Oxnard High class and worked in the family grocery store, the Asahi Market, before he enrolled at UCLA. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, he was pulled out of the university at the age of 19 and removed with other Japanese Americans to the Tulare Assembly Center, where he shared a converted horse stall with his family. While in Tulare, Takasugi worked as a teacher's aide at the camp high school, teaching business and Spanish. He was later transferred to the War Relocation Authority camp at Gila River, Arizona. In February 1943, Takasugi became one of 4,000 students released from camp to continue college and relocated to the East Coast. He earned his bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1945 and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.
After graduating from the Ivy League school, he applied to multiple accounting firms in Philadelphia; he was turned down at each firm, later explaining, "They'd say, 'With that Asian face, we can't put you in the field." He instead returned to Oxnard to work in his family's Asahi Market. The Takasugi family had opened the store in 1907 and had left it in the custody of employee Ignacio Carmona when they were forced to enter camp. Upon the Takasugis' return from Gila River, Carmona returned control of the store to the Takasugis.
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