Tom Matsuoka; Owned Fair Oaks Nursery in Pasadena

Tom Matsuoka, 71, owner of the well-known Fair Oaks Nursery in Pasadena and a perennial winner in the California Landscape Contractors Assn.’s annual awards for the state’s best landscape projects. Matsuoka earned an unprecedented 31 consecutive awards between 1956 and 1987. He founded his landscape business in 1950 and quickly became active in the landscape contractors’ group, helping write two of their books still in use today. On Jan. 11 of unreported causes in Hiroshima, Japan, where he was visiting relatives.