Toru Asada, a food service manager at the San Diego Zoo for two decades, died Friday of heart failure at his Clairemont home. He was 73.
Mr. Asada, a native of San Diego, grew up in Watsonville. When the United States entered World War II, Mr. Asada, his parents and six brothers and sisters were interned in a prison camp for Japanese-Americans in Poston, Ariz. While there, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served until 1947.
Mr. Asada returned to San Diego and worked as a commercial fisherman from 1947 to 1960, when he took a job with the Canteen Food Service. In 1964, he went to work for the San Diego Zoo as a food service manager. He retired in 1984.
He was a charter member and a past commander of Japanese-American Memorial Post 4851 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. As president of the Balboa Park Men's Golf Club from 1989 to 1991, he established the Senior Golf Tournament and helped put together the Junior Golf Tournament for teen-agers.
Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Smiles; two daughters, Carol Wilkinson of Del Cerro and Bonnie, of Bellflower; three sisters, Tsuru, Kame and Asako, all of San Diego; and three brothers, Hideo and James, both of San Diego, and Tom, of Monterey.
A funeral service will be at 7 tonight in Lewis Colonial/Benbough Mortuary. A burial with military honors will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Toru Asada, a food service manager at the San Diego Zoo for two decades, died Friday of heart failure at his Clairemont home. He was 73.
Mr. Asada, a native of San Diego, grew up in Watsonville. When the United States entered World War II, Mr. Asada, his parents and six brothers and sisters were interned in a prison camp for Japanese-Americans in Poston, Ariz. While there, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served until 1947.
Mr. Asada returned to San Diego and worked as a commercial fisherman from 1947 to 1960, when he took a job with the Canteen Food Service. In 1964, he went to work for the San Diego Zoo as a food service manager. He retired in 1984.
He was a charter member and a past commander of Japanese-American Memorial Post 4851 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. As president of the Balboa Park Men's Golf Club from 1989 to 1991, he established the Senior Golf Tournament and helped put together the Junior Golf Tournament for teen-agers.
Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Smiles; two daughters, Carol Wilkinson of Del Cerro and Bonnie, of Bellflower; three sisters, Tsuru, Kame and Asako, all of San Diego; and three brothers, Hideo and James, both of San Diego, and Tom, of Monterey.
A funeral service will be at 7 tonight in Lewis Colonial/Benbough Mortuary. A burial with military honors will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Mount Hope Cemetery.
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