Richard Tadashi Kadota

After a very brief battle with pneumonia, Richard passed away peacefully at Burnaby General. He will be lovingly missed by his wife Jackie, brother Gordon, sons Ken and Tad, daughter Erica and grandson Andrew as well as the large Kadota Clan. Richard will always be remembered for his kindness and warmth extended to everyone he met. He had a rich and colourful life which he lived to the fullest.

Richard was born in Alert Bay, BC. At the time his father, Kantaro, was the head millwright at the sawmill in Englewood located at the northern end of Vancouver Island. At an early age, Richard’s family moved to New Westminster where he attended Sir Richard McBride Elementary School. Although shy and somewhat feeble, Richard was an academically outstanding student and after a few months, he was accelerated past Grade One to Grade Two and again, advanced from Grade Four to Grade Six.

In June of 1940 his mother decided to take a trip to Japan to visit the grandparents with intentions to return to Canada. However, because of the sudden outbreak of World War II, plans to return were interrupted. After the challenging war years in Japan, Richard returned to Canada and lived in Toronto before returning to the West Coast, eventually becoming a partner in an interior contracting company.

In 1976 Richard married Jackie and they shared many wonderful years together until his departure.

Celebration of Life will be held at the Nikkei Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby on Sunday, October 12 at 2:00 pm.