Ben K. Yoshinaga died Dec. 23, 2009 at the age of 87 in Temple, Tex¬as, nine years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He was born in Los Angeles on July 6, 1922 to Tsune Motoda and Henry Kyukichi Yoshi¬naga originally of Kumamoto-ken. A funeral mass has already been held in Temple, Texas. Inurnment will be Saturday, Jan. 16 at 11 a.m. at Resur¬rection Cemetery in Montebello.
Ben grew up in Los Angeles and attended Maryknoll Catholic School and Loyola High School and started college at UCLA. He completed his B.S. in engineering at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. where he played basketball and football. He resided in Los Angeles until 1969. Ben spent his career in furniture manufacturing.
He is survived by his wife, Alice; daughters, Niki Yoshinaga of Port¬land, Ore., Christine Yoshinaga-Itano of Boulder, Colo., and son, Jim Yoshi¬naga of Denver, Colo.; as well as his brother, Robert Seigo Yoshinaga of Monterey Park. His sister, Mary Lou¬ise preceded him in death. He is also survived by 2 granddaughters, Nicole Itano of Athens, Greece and Michelle Itano of Durham, N.C.
In lieu of gifts or flowers, the fam¬ily requests that donations be sent to Scott and White Cancer Center or Hospice, 2401 S. 31st St., Temple, TX 76508.