Pearl Toshie Kimura 1914-2010 Passed away July 26, after a stroke, at the age of 96. Her lifelong devotion to academic, environmental, and cultural philanthropy connected her to many people and causes. She left us her mark, her legacy, and her wildly optimistic spirit. Avant-garde films; daring plays; challenging art; and people of all nations, backgrounds, and ages - all appealed to Pearl.

Despite setbacks such as the tragic loss of her ophthalmologist husband, Samuel J. Kimura, MD, in 1979, from a car accident in Spain that involved them both, and the loss of her home and all possessions in the Berkeley Hills fire in 1991, Pearl chose the license plate "LKY PRL" (Lucky Pearl), a motto she lived by every moment of her full life.

Nearly 40 years ago, Pearl was involved with her husband in founding That Man May See, Inc., to support vision research, education, and patient care at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Pearl created endowments, funded laboratories, and established the UCSF-Japan Eye Society Fund. An avid supporter of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, she never missed a play. She served as a leader for Ikebana International, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, and director of the local branch of Sogetsu Ikebana. She helped to establish the Garden of Fragrance at the Strybing Arboretum, containing plants and flowers that appeal to the senses, accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

Pearl was born in Gilroy, California, in 1914, to a family dedicated to farming. Valedictorian of her high school class, she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and received her BA in nursing at UCSF in 1939. In 1940, with unsettled prewar conditions, Pearl returned to her parents' home to be near them and worked as a nurse in Guadalupe. One year later, her family received orders to relocate. They were forced to sell their farm and were moved first to Central California and then to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, where they remained until the end of the war. During this tumultuous time, Pearl joined her fiancé in Illinois, was married, and moved with her husband to Mississippi. He left for active duty in Europe; and she joined her sister-in-law, Frances Kimura, in St. Louis, Missouri, working in clinical laboratories at Washington University, while taking classes in laboratory technology.

In 1949, Pearl accompanied her husband to Nagasaki, Japan, on an invitation from the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, to study the effects of radiation on the eyes of survivors of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She assisted in research and served as language interpreter, helping to establish eye clinics and to train nurses at the Japanese Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima. Following the loss of her Berkeley home, Pearl moved to San Francisco. In the fall of 1993, she was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays, from the government of Japan, in recognition of her long-term contribution to promoting US-Japan relations.

She is survived by her sister Ruth Sakai of Monterey Park, California; nieces Bretta Rambo of Healdsburg and Masa Rambo of Pacifica; nephews Peter Rambo of Sayward, British Columbia, Norman Sakai of Arcadia, and Dennis Sakai of Tiburon; close friend Barbara Comer of San Francisco; and a wide circle of family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA, on Sunday, October 3, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704; Ikebana International, 1653 Skycrest Drive #14, Walnut Creek, CA 94595; San Francisco Botanical Garden, 1260 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122; and That Man May See, Inc., 10 Koret Way, Box 0352, San Francisco, CA 94143.

Pearl T Kimura