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Harry Masao Nakata of Honolulu, Hawaii passed away peacefully from natural causes on March 24, 2020 at age 92. Born in Honolulu in 1927, he enjoyed growing up in Kapahulu and graduated from Kaimuki High School. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving as a sergeant in the intelligence corps in post-war Japan. Upon his discharge, he married Kazue Kanemoto, whom he met in Yamaguchi, Japan and studied architecture at the University of California-Berkeley. He completed his Master of Architecture at Berkeley, then started practicing as an architect in Fresno, California. After feeling a bit home-sick, he returned to Honolulu in 1962 with his wife and three daughters in tow. He worked nearly fifty years as an architect, designing public buildings and a few private residences. Some of his designs won awards and have been archived in a university library in California. Passionate about art, design, and architecture, he was also a skilled sculptor, photographer, and woodcrafter. If he had his way, he would have loved to have been the next George Nakashima, the famed Japanese-American woodworker and furnituremaker. For many years the family enjoyed an elegant coffee table Harry made by hand that adorned the living-room in their house in Manoa.
Harry is preceded in death by his beloved wife Kazue, and survived by his three daughters, Linda Nakata, Adele Silliman (wife of James Silliman), and Cheryl Nakata, as well as by his brother James Nakata and sister Florence Matsuo. He will be placed at rest in the National Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) with Kazue, followed by a private memorial at a later date. Condolences with no koden may be sent to the following address:
Harry M. Nakata Family c/o 3508 Garden Road, Apt E-6 Burlington, NC 27215
Arrangements Provided By:
Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary LLC
