December 26, 1930 – July 6, 2022
Louis Ito passed away peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday morning, July 6, 2022, at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He was 91 years old.
Louis was born on December 26, 1930, in Sacramento, Calif. to Nobuyoshi and Kazuye Ito. The oldest of five children, Louis took on many responsibilities at a young age at the family farm. The work was never-ending.
After enduring Executive Order 9066, under which all West Coast Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps, and upon graduating high school in 1949, Louis attended California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, Calif. while working as a butler for a doctor. However, several months after graduating cum laude in 1954 and getting his first job with an advertising agency, he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
While in the Army, Louis attended the U.S. Army Language School at the Presidio in Monterey, California to formally study Japanese and was subsequently stationed in Tokyo, Japan. Louis met Shizue Seki while in Japan and the two were married on March 28, 1958, at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. They eventually had three children, Marcia, Connie and Vance.
After an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, Louis found employment as a technical artist and technical writer at various aerospace companies and moved to Los Angeles. However, with the lack of job security in that industry at the time, Louis attended law school and graduated cum laude from Southwestern School of Law and passed the California State Bar Exam on his first attempt in July 1970 despite working full-time with three young children at home.
Louis worked for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office from 1970 to 1994, where he prosecuted crimes of all types. During this time, he developed a close working relationship with Japanese prosecutors, teaching them the U.S. criminal law and procedure. In recognition of building this relationship between U.S. and Japanese legal circles, the Government of Japan awarded Louis with the Kunsho, The Order of the Rising Sun, and he was given the Imperial Medal from Emperor Akihito. Upon retiring from the DA’s office, he practiced law privately.
Throughout his entire life, Louis was involved with many professional and community organizations.
Louis’ wife, Shizue, and eldest daughter, Marcia, preceded him in death. Louis is survived by his four siblings, Edward, Robert (Norma), Jackson and Karen (Harry); two children, Connie and Vance (Yumi); and five grandchildren, Amanda, Melissa, Michelle, Jason and Nathan.
The family held a private burial ceremony on July 19, 2022. A Celebration of Life will be held at Gardena Valley Baptist Church on August 19, 2022 at 3:30 p.m.