Richard Shigeru Nishimura

Richard Shigeru Nishimura, 96, born on February 28, 1922, in Los Angeles, California, passed away August 24, 2018. He resided in Los Angeles, California at the time of his passing.

Richard S. Nishimura was the first born son in the Nishimura family of eight children and was born in Los Angeles making him a natural born citizen of the United States. His parents Mokutaro (father) and Take (mother) and his grandfather Chotaro immigrated to the United States from Japan in the early 1920's and settled in Beverly Hills as the caretakers of the John Barrymore estate, handling the landscaping and maintenance of the overall estate. Richard, his parents, siblings George, Bryce, Donald, Laura (Yakabi), Flora (Saisho) and Katherine (Shigemoto) all lived on the Barrymore estate until they were remanded without due process to be detained with thousands of other Japanese Americans at Manzanar, an internment camp, as detailed in Executive Order 9066 in 1942. It was at Manzanar that his youngest brother John was born. You can read a detailed story about Richard's experience during World War II at this web site: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/dont-call-prisoner-name-richard-dg/

Richard and his family moved to Seabrook, New Jersey after being released from Manazanar to work at Seabrook Farms. After a few years in New Jersey he and most of the Nishimura family moved back to Los Angeles.

Once back in LA and settled, Richard landed a job as a traffic manager for a women's apparel importer in downtown Los Angeles (RBK Importers) for over 20 years. Not wanting to slow down, after retirement from RBK, Richard worked as a bookkeeper at his brother-in-law's (Tee Saisho) Asian produce company for several more years.

Richard Shigeru Nishimura, a WWII Veteran, was married twice. His first wife, Chiyeko, passed away in 1968 of complications resulting from breast cancer. Their only child, daughter Karen Nishimura lives in Los Angeles. He married Felisa (Doroteo) in 1973 and they had a child, Julie, who died in infancy. Felisa Nishimura lives in Los Angeles.

Funeral service is scheduled for September 8 at 9:30 am under the direction of Forest Lawn, Covina Hills, California.