Satoru Takemoto (Poston 5-14-CD) was born in Watsonville, California on April 5, 1920 to immigrant
parents, Itaro and Toshiye Takemoto . In
1941, Satoru graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Accounting.
But shortly afterward, Satoru, his parents and siblings, Katsumi, Shizue,
Teruo, Kiyoshi, Hiromi and Isamu, were
forced to evacuate to the Salinas Assembly Center. Several months later, they were relocated and
finally arrived at the Poston, Arizona concentration camp on July 2, 1942. While at Poston, Satoru
volunteered to join the U.S. Army. He graduated from Camp Savage, Minnesota
Military Intelligence Language School in July, 1943, and served years with the Military
Intelligence Service in Tokyo.
After his Military service, Satoru moved to
New York, where he met Chizuko Hayashi, his future wife. Satoru obtained an accounting job with a small
firm in Chicago, and they moved there and settled on the South Side.
In 1958, Satoru was employed by Tolona
Pizza Products Corp. After the owner died, Satoru was promoted to
President and CEO of the corporation. Satoru helped the company expand to England and Japan. After retiring in 1984, another Italian food
company solicited his assistance, and he became the Vice President of Mama
Tish Sorbettos. Satoru served on the state of Illinois Import Export Board
under Governor Thompson.
Satoru Takemoto, resident of Morton Grove since
1962, died on May 14, 2006 in Skokie,
Illinois at the age of 86.
He is survived by his wife, Chizuko; daughter, Joyce (Jeffrey) McLennand, and Carole (Edward)
Kim; and son; Kent (Joanne) Takemoto.
Source: Chicago Tribune, une 4, 2006
