Tony Suzuki

He was born on January 18, 1944, in Tokyo, Japan, to Kaoru Suzuki and Hisako Tanaka. He and his family survived the Tokyo firebombing raids of the mid-40s — his father actually escaped the fires of Tokyo to Chiba with Tony on his back.

Everyone who knew Tony knew he was quite the jokester and the adventurer. He was an avid mountain climber and skier in his teens and 20s and later took to golf. After blowing his Columbia tuition money in New York (oops!), he ended up in the restaurant business in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he met his wife Judy. They married in Paris in 1978, gave birth to daughters Chako and Tamiko, and opened up a Japanese restaurant called Mr. Yakitori.

The family trekked across the United States to Las Vegas in the mid-80s, where Tony worked in restaurant management at Benihana in the Las Vegas Hilton. He worked there for more than 25 years, and in that time he made life-long friends, was once mistaken for a young Wayne Newton, and was told he was “cute” by Lady Gaga.

The second love of his life (after his family, obviously) was golf. On Mondays, he’d hit the fairway with all of his golf buddies. He also collected Samurai swords, loved studying Japanese history, and could consume an astonishing amount of food in a single sitting. He was happy to hit the karaoke mic with an Elvis ballad or two, much to the embarrassment of his daughters. Above all, he loved speaking with people from all walks of life, learning about different cultures, and making people laugh. He was also known to jokingly tell people he was Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki’s father.

Tony is survived and greatly missed by his wife Judy, children Chako and Tamiko, and grandchild Aila.

His funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, December 19 at Palm Eastern Mortuary (Visitation will be held from 1-3 p.m. and 4-6 p.m.).