Frederick Waichi Fujimoto's Obituary
Frederick Fujimoto Obituary
Frederick Waichi Fujimoto, 92, of Mililani, Hawaii, beloved husband, father, grandfather and uncle and granduncle, passed away on May 23, 2024. He was born on September 24, 1931 in Honolulu, Hawaii and is survived by son, Owen Fujimoto (Yuan-Sun); daughter, Donna Fujimoto-Saka (Alan); and 4 grandchildren.
He will be remembered most for his many passions, and the community he built sharing them with others. His family will treasure their memories of his wide-ranging love of music, from traditional Japanese music to 2000’s pop to current anime soundtracks; his pursuit of genealogy and expansive, annotated collection of family photographs dating back to the early 1900’s; his many rounds of golf at his beloved Ted Makalena course; his Friday night poker games; and his robust email correspondence. He loved forging a personal connection with everyone he met.
Fred was born during the Depression and grew up in Kalihi, the sixth of nine children born to Matsuichi and Hatsuyo Fujimoto. He graduated from the University of Hawaii (UH) in 1953 with a degree in poultry and went on to serve as an X-ray technician in the US Army from 1953 to 1956. While he was stationed in Osaka, Japan during his service, he met the love of his life, Reiko Sawada. They married in March 1955 and had their son Owen later that year in December. The family of three settled in Hawaii in May 1956. They completed their family of four with the birth of their daughter Donna in 1959.
His career in the crop reporting service and as an agricultural extension agent for UH took Fred and his young family from Oahu in 1957 to Maui, back to Oahu, Kauai, Molokai and finally back to Oahu, where he moved to Mililani in 1974 and lived for the rest of his life. During his later years with the Extension Service, Fred received his master’s degree in agricultural economics and became versed in agricultural cooperatives and served for a time as Oahu County chairman. Once he retired from UH in 1986, Fred dedicated both his time and resources to philanthropic pursuits. Forever grateful for his UH education, he sponsored five scholarships. Four of them are in honor of the careers chosen by each member of his family: agriculture, music, engineering and education. The fifth general scholarship is in honor of his grandmother, Matsu Fujimoto, who was born in Kuba, Japan in 1881 and immigrated to Hawaii in 1905; Matsu never had the opportunity to go to school in her lifetime. He also shared his agricultural expertise volunteering at Foster Botanical Garden and Lyon Arboretum, and served on the board of the Komatsu Chojin Kai as a connection to his father’s family hometown in Japan.
As a father, he involved his children in his work by encouraging their participation in 4-H projects including raising chickens, pigs, and steers. He took the time to take his family out with him when he first started golfing and fishing on Kauai, and many weekends were spent at the beach, zoo or at various parks. As a grandfather, he was actively present in all aspects of his grandchildren’s lives, from taking neighborhood walks, to facilitating after-school pickups, to keeping up-to-date with their adult lives across the mainland US and Asia, and giving life advice as only a grandfather can. While he is dearly missed, his family is comforted that he has reunited with Reiko, his greatest joy, who passed away in 2022.
Private services will be held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. In lieu of flowers or monetary gifts (koden), family and friends may contribute towards the Fred Fujimoto Endowed Scholarship fund at the University of Hawai?i Foundation to benefit undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Hawai?i at Manoa, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
Gifts by credit card can be made by visiting: http://uhfoundation.org/Fujimoto.
Gifts by check can be made out to the University of Hawai?i Foundation, memo Fred Fujimoto Scholarship Fund #203-8110-3, and mailed to: University of Hawai?i Foundation, P.O. Box 11270, Honolulu, HI 96828-0270.
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