November 19, 1929 — February 2, 2024
Hiroshi John Tauchi, 94, passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 2. He was a resident of Saratoga, Calif., since 1970.
John was born Hiroshi Saiga in Saihaku in Tottori Prefecture, Japan, on November 19, 1929. In 1950, at the age of 20, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle who were living in Los Angeles and changed his name to Hiroshi John Tauchi. He received his bachelor of science in statistics and accounting in 1955 and his MBA in 1957, both from UCLA.
After graduation, John served as computer systems manager for the UCLA Health Science Computing Facility. There, he helped develop and program the BMDP (Bio-Medical Data Package) statistical program, which was widely utilized in research for over 50 years. He then worked at IBM in statistical programming and computer language development for 28 years, including two overseas assignments in Tokyo. At both UCLA and IBM, he wrote scholarly works and gave scientific presentations that were included in bibliographies for teaching statistics.
John was known for a lifetime of community service and building cultural bridges through his bilingual abilities and love of travel. Soon after arriving in the U.S., he helped build a preschool at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. After moving his family to Saratoga in 1970, he joined the West Valley Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, where he served as president and long-standing board member. He helped found the Daruma Cultural Festival, helped purchase a senior citizen community center, and received an outstanding chapter service award in 1974.
In 1984, John became involved in Saratoga’s Sister City Program with Muko-shi, outside of Kyoto, where he volunteered to lead many group trips to Japan, as well as all across the Pacific Rim. John also served as president of the Hakone Foundation board, and was named the Rotary Club’s Volunteer of the Year in 1996. His last trip to Japan as a group leader was in 2018 at age 88.
John received the Santa Clara County Asian American Hero Award in 2005, for many years of “time, talent and leadership” to the Saratoga Sister City, Hakone Foundation, Saratoga Rotary, West Valley JACL, Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, Saratoga Taiko and Bamboo Society.
John is survived by his wife of 63 years, Aiko; children, Pamela Tauchi-Nishi (Steven Nishi) of Honolulu, Byron Tauchi of New Orleans, and Teresa Tauchi (Sam Boonin) of Oakland; and grandchildren, Ryan Nishi, Erin Nishi, Noah Boonin and Emi Boonin. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 30, at 10 a.m. at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. In lieu of flowers or okoden, donations may be made in Hiroshi John Tauchi’s memory to the Hakone Foundation at https://www.hakone.com/donate.