Tadaaki Kato

Tadaaki Kato of Watsonville passed away at home on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, surrounded by his family. He was 89 years old.

He was born in Fukuoka, Japan on February 10, 1924. As a young man, he worked for the Japanese railroads as a conductor and also served in the Japanese Military during WWII. He married Akiko Ishida on July 1, 1947, at the age of 24. In 1954, they immigrated to the United States where they settled in San Jose, CA and grew strawberries. He then decided to change his line of work to gardening. Years later, to make a better life for his family, he moved to Watsonville in 1966 where he started Kato Nursery, a family run wholesale carnation business. In 1973, he opened up Kato Florist and Gift Shop in San Jose. Two years later, he expanded and opened a second retail florist shop in Watsonville. In 1977, he decided to transition into growing roses and changed the name of the business to Kato Cut Flowers, Inc. In 1995, he opened another wholesale cut flower warehouse in San Jose. Tadaaki continued to work until the early 2000's. He loved his business as much as he loved his family.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Akiko (Betty) of Watsonville, and his children; Setsuko/Sue Sinclair (Scott) of Santa Cruz, June Weinstein (Jack) of Villa Park, Tad Kato (JoAnn) of Scotts Valley, Mary Rumney (Craig) of Watsonville, Nancy Velez (Victor) of Watsonville, Eileen Klockgether (Joe) of Sacramento, Tom Kato (Wanda) of Sacramento, Kathy Ito (Doug) of Aptos, and nephew, Michael Maemura of Gardena who was like a son, 16 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

The family will be forever grateful to the skill, expertise, and the dignified care Tadaaki received, in his home, by the staff of Hospice of Santa Cruz County.

Friends and family are invited to attend funeral services on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 11:00 AM at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple, 423 Bridge St., Watsonville. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Patrick and Debra Molina Carroll.