Hiroshi Yamauchi
July 28, 2021
Hiroshi Yamauchi, teacher, physician, and recipient of the Gold-Headed Cane, died at home on July 28. He was 92.In an editorial about his award, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "The fact of a Japanese-American being selected by the faculty and students, 'for possessing the qualities most representative of a true physician,' demonstrates the old American principle of recognizing a man's worth, without reference to his race, creed, or color." Born in Berkeley, Hiroshi Yamauchi, the oldest of three children, became interested in medicine at age sixteen, when in 1943, after weeks of distress, he collapsed during a compulsory exercise drill at Tule Lake, the Japanese American internment camp where his family was interred. Or "incarcerated" – as he preferred to call it. The person he credited with saving his life was his cousin, Paul K. Yamauchi, who correctly identified his overlooked condition as acute kidney failure. In 1945 when the camps closed, the Yamauchi family was confronted with finding shelter, having given up their home before the evacuation, and in that pressing moment decided to split up. Recently when Hiroshi's granddaughter, after her visit to Berkeley, told him of the uneasiness she felt about the homeless living near campus, he responded with a teaching moment. "You know," he said, "your Papa Hish was once homeless," referring to the year after the war when he lived in a chicken coop. After high school, Hish imagined becoming a gardener like his father, but his parents told him they had much higher hopes for him. In 1947, he signed on to a program that provided for a college education in exchange for future military service, and enrolled at UC Berkeley. There he met his future wife, Anna, who skipped a grade after camp, and impressed him by getting high marks with very little study. In 1951 he was accepted to the University of California School of Medicine. After graduating from medical school, he completed his internship and medical residency in Seattle, had three children, and entered a two-year Research Fellowship at the Cardiovascular Institute at UCSF. In 1960 Hish began repaying his debt and worked as a physician at the United States Air Force Hospital in Travis. A few years later Dr. Yamauchi established the Special Procedures Clinic, a formulation for care that is still favored. In 1963, after the Vietnam War broke out, he was assigned to Japan, where he served as Chief of the Hemodialysis Unit at the USAF Hospital. While stationed there he also taught at the University of Tokyo, training the interns and medical residents. It was there, in a country that honors teaching, that he discovered his true calling. In 1964 Captain Yamauchi became head of the Artificial Kidney Team, which adapted the kidney dialysis unit for use in the battlefield. In 1967 he was transferred to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, where the seriously wounded were being taken. As the war escalated, his kidney team traveled directly into the war zone, flying by helicopter through enemy fire, or aboard the special C-131 he helped configure as a trauma unit. In 1966 Hish returned to the United States with Anna and his children, Lisa, Karen, Craig, and Ken, and settled in Woodland, where a new clinic was being built, not far from Berkeley where his parents lived. Then, in sync with the '60s embrace of radical change, he went on an exercise kick. This was before the heyday of fitness, and his behavior drew stares. He now traveled to work on a bright yellow Schwinn, eschewed all elevators, and became partial to stairs. On his fortieth birthday, he gathered four out-of-shape friends and convinced them to commit to a 6 a.m. run each morning. In those days he could be seen making rounds at Woodland Memorial Hospital in an orange tracksuit topped with a white lab coat. In Woodland, as before, he looked for a way to couple clinical practice and teaching, and forged a relationship with University of California, Davis. At UCD Medical School he became so masterful at teaching, his students would frequently respond with standing ovations. Twice, in 1974 and 1976, he was presented with the Outstanding Instructor of the Year Award. In 1978 the Kaiser Foundation honored him with the Annual Award for Excellence in Teaching for Clinical Sciences. That same year, the Sacramento Medical Center presented Professor Yamauchi with the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. In 1988, when he retired from the military, he had risen to four-star colonel. In 1989 he retired with emeritus status from UC Davis. In 1998 Hish was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and retired from the Woodland Clinic Medical Group. In 1999 his wife Anna, age sixty-six, died from ovarian cancer. He reflected on this loss as the saddest in his life, along with the loss of his grandson Richard Hiroshi O'Brien, his namesake, who died in a skiing accident in 2010. Calling on the wisdom of his ancestors, from his Buddhist kin at the family temple in Fukuoka, Japan, he trained his mind on the present moment and had fun in his remaining years. He golfed. He hiked. He fished for salmon. He played poker with friends. He went to the Shakespeare Festival in Oregon. He harvested kabocha squash. He stopped worrying about cholesterol and ate bacon and eggs at IHOP. With his companion Violeta he traveled the world, got a puppy, and attended jazz festivals. And more and more he responded to the moment and spoke out. He reflected on the connection between anti-Muslim sentiment, Black Lives Matter, and his own incarceration. The week before he died, Hish picked a handful of alstroemeria from his garden and traveled to the mountain top in Truckee where Anna's ashes were scattered, alongside those of his grandson Richard. He laid the flowers down on the earth atop a cushion of dusty pine needles, where he knew he would soon be joining them for a wonderful rest. At his request, the family will mark his passing with a private ceremony.
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