Edward Y Kakita
La Cañada Flintridge resident and retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Y. Kakita, known for his calming courtroom manner, passed away last Wednesday.
He was 64.
Held at an internment camp throughout World War II, Kakita would go on to help found the Japanese American Bar Association and later become a prominent mentor for fledgling Asian-American attorneys.
Kakita, who for several years had been undergoing treatment for cancer at Huntington Memorial Hospital, was a Fast Track judge and presided over hundreds of civil trials and settlement conferences on issues ranging from personal injury and employment - two types of people-oriented cases which he enjoyed - to insurance and real estate disputes. He practiced in the realms of corporate, transactional and real estate law for 15 years, most recently as a senior resident partner at Whitman, Breed, Abbott & Morgan.
His mild manner and was said to have a calming influence on contentious litigants.
Born in Los Angeles in 1940, Kakita and his family went to an internment camp in Arizona at the start of the war and remained there until the war ended. He graduated Dorsey High School in Los Angeles and received degrees in business and finance from USC. Kakita received his law degree from Hastings College of Law in 1965, and he then returned to Los Angeles to work for private practice and small law firms, namely Caldwell & Toms, of which he became a partner.
In 1976, he and other attorneys founded the Japanese American Bar Association.
“His greatest contribution was to aspiring attorneys as a founder and driving force behind the Japanese American Bar Association,” county Supervisor Michael Antonovich said in a statement. “His legacy will be the strong influence he had encouraging young lawyers to achieve their goals.”
Kakita was appointed to the California Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown in 1980. He became presiding judge of the court’s appellate division in 1998 and retired May 8, 2000, his 60th birthday.
An active member of the Asian-American community, Kakita spoke conversational Japanese and was committed to minority involvement in the legal field.
Kakita is survived by his wife, Lenore Kakita, and their sons, Grant, of Hermosa Beach; Neil, of Berkeley; and Garret, of Las Vegas; brother Stanley Kakita, of La Cañada; and sister Barbara Tanezaki, of Culver City.
Services are scheduled for Saturday, April 2, at 11 a.m. at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.
The Japanese American Bar association is setting up a scholarship in Kakita’s name. Donations may be sent to the association at PO Box 86812, Los Angeles, CA 90086.