Dr. Masuo John "Matt" Koike

WINTER HAVEN – Dr. Masuo John “Matt” Koike, 79, of Winter Haven, passed away Tuesday, November 18, 2014, of respiratory failure.

Born in New York to Japanese immigrant parents, he accompanied his mother to Yokohama, Japan, for an extended visit when he was very young. Unfortunate circumstances required that his mother return to New York, and Matt’s older brother, Satoshi, was to accompany him home in the months to come. World War II interfered, and Matt was separated from his parents for several years until the end of the war.

During the occupation, several American G.I.s recognized Matt as an American citizen and arranged for his transportation on a military ship to San Francisco, where his mother was waiting. He was the first American civilian to return to the United States from Japan after the war, a story that several newspapers reported at the time.

Dr. Koike was proud of his Japanese heritage and proud to be an American. After World War II, his family became part of a Japanese-American social club for those who relocated to New York after leaving the internment camps in the Western United States.

He graduated with a degree in biology from Johns Hopkins University, served in the United States Army and earned a medical degree from the University of Barcelona in Spain. While living in Spain, he met and married his wife, Janis, and they eventually moved to Winter Haven with their two children in 1979. He specialized in obstetrics because, as he put, it is “happy medicine,” and when it wasn’t, he knew that it was especially important for him to be there for his patients. He retired in 2012.

Dr. Koike loved his family most of all. He also loved his job, politics and sports, with the New York Knicks holding a special place in his heart. He is survived by his wife Janis, his children, Sara Abiusi (Derek) of Arlington, Va., and Michael Koike (Rebecca) of Scarsdale, N.Y., and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents Izumi and Iku Koike, and his brother Satoshi.

After a private burial service on Friday, the family will be receiving visitors Sunday at 2 p.m. at Ott-Laughlin Funeral Home, 645 West Central Avenue, Winter Haven. In lieu of the flowers, the family requests that donations be made to a charity of choice.