Arthur S. Yorozu

A Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and patron of the arts, Arthur S. Yorozu died in his home on September 26, 2022, at 95-years old.

Art was born in Seattle and attended Seattle Public Schools until his family was sent first to the Puyallup fairgrounds and later to Minidoka Concentration Camp for Japanese Americans in Idaho. Despite the hardships, Art graduated from high school at Minidoka when he was only 16 years old. On a trip east to visit his sister, he met the president of Swarthmore College who encouraged him to apply there, which Art did. He attended the college for 1 year before being drafted into the Army.

At 19, he was accepted and looked forward to attending the Army Specialized Training Program at Yale University. Instead, the Army sent him to the language school at Fort Snelling in Minnesota and then to Japan in 1946, where he was part of the Military Intelligence Service interrogating Japanese Prisoners of War who had been held in Manchuria and Russia. He would tell his family that conditions were horrible in Japan and regularly gave rice and other food rations to his starving extended family in Tokyo.
After serving in World War II, Art returned to Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in engineering.
Art had a 38-year-long and distinguished career at the Boeing Company. He specialized in air flow in jet cabins and held several patents while working at Boeing.

Art gave generously to his family, local community organizations and political candidates throughout the United States. He liked to support new artists by buying their artwork.
Art and his wife, Helene, were married for nearly 55 years when she died in 2011. She was a University of Washington graduate in 1955 and an accomplished modern dancer, actress and Japanese classical dancer. He endowed a fellowship at the University of Washington Department of Dance to support graduate students who perform in the Chamber Dance Company. The Helene Tsutsumoto Yorozu and Arthur S. Yorozu Endowed Fellowship in Dance gift was just finalized a few months ago.

Art and Helene did not have any children of their own, but his greatest title was that of "Uncle Art," which he held for not just to his family, but to the children of his friends, their friends, elected officials, and even a Washington governor.

Art is survived by 19 nieces and nephews, 12 grandnieces and grandnephews, 14 great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews, and his sister-in-law, Sally Tsutsumoto.
In addition to his wife, Art was predeceased by his parents, Tokisaburo and Hatsu Yorozu and all of his brothers and sisters including William Yorozu, Stella Takahashi, Lily Fujii, Henry Yorozu and Helen Erlandson.

A memorial service will be held in early summer before Art and Helene's private burial at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent.

Memorial gifts may be made to Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, Densho, the Nisei Vets, or a charity of your choice.

Arrangements Entrusted to Emmick Family Funeral Home - Lake View ~ Seattle, Washington