George Kato

1969

The Niles Rotary has the most complete bio, at this date, for George Kato.

George Kato, 1931-1982 (from Niles Rotary website)

Koomei George Kato was one of the most popular and active members of the Niles (Fremont) Rotary Club. He was not new to the Rotary motto, “Service Above Self”, as he had dedicated his life to this belief long before he became a Rotarian in 1977.

George was born in Stockton, California in 1931, the son of an immigrant. His father came to North America to work in the silver mines, initially arriving in Mexico because of immigration laws; later entering the United States through El Paso, Texas. After working in the silver mines, on a sugar farm and in a salt refining factory, he settled his family in Stockton and worked in agriculture. George’s father died in Stockton prior to World War II. In 1942 the family was interned because of their Japanese heritage.

Koomei George Kato had attended schools in Stockton and after World War II he attended and graduated from the College of the Pacific, now U.O.P. He later took graduate courses in biochemistry at Stanford University.

George and a few members of his family eventually settled in Alameda County where he purchased farmland for agricultural use. He was known for his vegetable produce and extraordinary strawberries, sold at the Kato Farm stand on the corner of Stevenson and Mission Boulevards in Fremont.

George died in the spring of 1982, leaving a great void in the City of Fremont. Under Bob Pitcher’s Presidency of the Niles Rotary Club, he was awarded, in Memorium, the Paul Harris Fellowship. Niles Rotary also established a fund for youth activities in George’s memory.

He was a Past-President of the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church and a member of the Fremont Japanese-American Citizens League. He was also a member of the Washington High School Restoration Committee, Mission Peak and Oakland Flower Show. Members of his family have continued to keep the tradition of a display at the Alameda County Fair and have won first place for many years in a row.

At the time of his death, George was compiling a book reciting the biographies and sagas of the Japanese immigrants who came to Alameda County to improve the horticultural and agricultural industries of this area.

A small group of his friends, along with members of his family established the Koomei George Kato Fund. Paul Boas, then at the Bank of America and a Fremont Rotarian, was very helpful in working with this group. The existing Japanese Garden at Shinn Park was refurbished and enhanced. A small teahouse constructed in the garden by the Friends of George Kato committee has been dedicated to our sister city in Japan, Fukaya. He regularly entertained the official delegation from Fukaya. The garden is a memorial to George who was a member of Fremont’s Sister City Committee. It remains as a place of quiet beauty and a remembrance of George. In the garden is a rock with a plaque, which says it all:

“A kind, gentle man… a special friend. He believed in making the world a little better”

Dedicated May 22nd 1983

"Strawberry Delight" article (above) from Argus, May 17, 1976.

The following article shows a willingness to think outside the box.

"The deer in the strawberry patch", Argus, June 11, 1976.