Background
Takasugi, Nao was born on April 5, 1922 in Oxnard, California, United States. Son of Shingoro and Yasuye (Hayashi) Takasugi.
real estate developer State Legislator
Takasugi, Nao was born on April 5, 1922 in Oxnard, California, United States. Son of Shingoro and Yasuye (Hayashi) Takasugi.
He earned his bachelor"s degree from Temple University in 1945 and his Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.
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 University of California, Los Los Angeles After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin Doctorate. 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.
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.
He was reelected to the council in 1980 and then was elected Mayor of Oxnard in 1982.
A moderate, he succeeded conservative icon Tom McClintock in the Ventura County based 37th district (formerly the 36th). He remained in the position until retiring in 2008. In his final year in the Assembly at the age of 76, Takasugi suffered a heart attack while jogging outside his Sacramento apartment near the California State Capitol.
The Takasugi Family was featured in the book "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw.
During his interview with Browkay Nao Takasugi said "I find that I am compelled to remember the best– not the worst–of that time. To focus not on the grave deprivation of rights which beset us all, but rather on the countless shining moments of virtue that emerged from the shadows of that dark hour"
At the age of 87, Takasugi died of complications from a stroke on November 19, 2009, at 8:20 P.M. at Saint John"s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.
Member Oxnard Planning Commission, 1974-1976. President World Trade Center Association, Oxnard. Appointed (by California governor) chairman United Nations Anniversary.
Assemblyman California State Assembly 37th District. Board governors Japanese American National Museum. Member Ventura County Japanese American Citizens League, World Trade Center Association (president Oxnard chapter), United States Conference Mayors (member national advisory board), National League of Cities (national board directors), Ventura County Transportation Committee, League California Cities (board directors), South Coast Area Board Directors (chairman transportation committee), Association Ventura County Cities, Oxnard Housing Authoritry (chairman), Oxnard Redevelopment Agency (chairman), Optimists Club (Oxnard).
Married Judith Shigeko Mayeda, March 23, 1952. Children: Scott, Russell, Ronald, Tricia, Lea.