Japanese League
founder Nishimura dies

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
Star-Bulletin

Earl Nishimura, founder of the Japanese American Citizens League in Hawaii, "never complained about anything," said wife June.

"He was constantly doing things for people without charging them anything," she said.

Nishimura, 94, died Wednesday of pneumonia at Straub Clinic & Hospital.

He was an attorney for more than 20 years who practiced immigration and civil law.

Nishimura was born on Aug. 28, 1906, in Puuloa, Oahu.

He was also president of the Gajimaru Club, and he received the Redress and Civil Rights Program Award and the Japan Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.

June remembered her husband's passion for reading.

"He was always buried in the books," she said.

"Our house is full of Japanese, English and Hawaiian books. He would want me to get him a new dictionary every year."

Along with his love of books, Nishimura enjoyed singing Hawaiian songs. "Every night, he would be singing in the shower," June said.

For the last two to three months, June took care of Nishimura at their St. Louis Heights home while he received radiation treatment after he suffered a pelvic fracture.

"He was very grateful for everything I did," June said.

"'Nobody could do what you do for me' ... that's what he told me."

When friends visited Nishimura at their home, June said he never expressed the pain he felt. "He was always smiling," she said.

"We had a good life together," she said. "We really miss him."

Nishimura is also survived by sons Karl and Dean, daughters Earlyn and Berlyn Nishimura and Frieda Hulse, stepdaughters Patricia Middleton and Candace Kukino-Russo, sisters Mildred Kodani and Vivian Mizumoto, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the Nuuanu Congregational Church at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

No flowers are requested.