Tatsuaki Nakato
NAKATO, MORIHARA, GARBARSKY, SCHILLACI
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 9/13/2016 at 11:30:06
How do you sum up the life of a man in a few words? It is a daunting and humbling task, especially for one you love dearly. This is a feeble attempt to do so.
Tatsuaki Nakato was a complicated man, at once a humble, kind, generous, intelligent, and dedicated man while also being stubborn, driven, mischievous, and impatient. He could charm you one minute and infuriate you the next But if he loved you, you could see it in his actions. He was always doing little things for those he cared for and even for those he had just met. He treated everyone he encountered with dignity and respect.
Tatsuaki, a native of Japan, was born to Masaru and Yukie Nakato on January 17, 1942 in Korea, where his father had a successful fishing business, and was one of eight siblings. When W.W.II broke out they were forced to flee to Japan with only the belongings they could carry. They spent a few lean years living off the land until his father began a tobacco growing business and settled in Usa city in Kyushu. He grew up and attended school there. He received a masters degree in civil engineering in hydraulics at Nagoya University before emigrating to Iowa City, Iowa to study under Dr. Jack Kennedy at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa. There he earned a masters and a PHD. Jack encouraged him to stay as a Post Doc researcher and he ultimately became an assistant adjunct professor and research scientist there. He also did many projects in the U.S., Mexico, and India involving nuclear cooling systems, dams, river control, and more. He loved doing field work on the Mississippi. His dream to build a research station on the Mississippi River was achieved with the aid of colleague Rob Ettema and much blood, sweat, and tears. LACMRERS on Hwy. 22 in Muscatine, which opened in 2001, was the result. He retired from the University in 2008 and spent his retirement years on home improvement projects, translating a book on Hans Albert Einstein into Japanese, walking many miles with his dog Hurley; volunteering for cleanup efforts after tornadoes; and traveling with his wife Sharon.
He met Sharon through mutual friends while students at the University and they married at Danforth Chapel on campus on March 25, 1979. They raised three children, Misa, Kimi, and Ken in Coralville, Iowa.
He loved fishing.; golfing with his buddies at Quail Creek Golf course; traveling around the world; playing Mah Jong; watching Gold Rush, the food, animal,and travel channels; walking Hurley; making sushi; Salvador Dali”s work, listening to jazz and Elvis, and reading, learning, and teaching new things especially about Japanese culture. He was a member of IAHR (International Association of Hydraulic Research), U.I. Alumni Association, and the Coralville Optimist Club where he loved to help with the fishing derby and the Good Reader Program where he entertained the kids with Japanese folk stories and shared Japanese culture.
Preceding him in death were his parents, Yukie (Morihara) and Masaru Nakato and his sisters Itsuko and Iku Nakato and brother Shunta Nakato of Japan; father-in-law and mother -in law, Morris and Ann Garbarsky of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; and beloved dogs Benji and Bruno.
Survivors include his wife, Sharon, of Coralville, Iowa; son, Ken at home; daughters, Misa Schillaci(Mike) of McDonough, Ga. and Kimi, of Austin, Texas; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Harvey and Madeline Garbarsky; and nephew, Seth Garbarsky and daughter Ella and son Caleb of Meriden, Ct.; sisters, Fusako Nakato and Hagiko Nakato and brother, Tsuyoshi Nakato and his son Takeshi Nakato and family and daughter Yukiko Nakato; many friends; and his beloved fur baby, Hurley. He lived his life with humility, honor, and integrity and the world will not see anyone like him again. He will dwell in a special place in our hearts and minds forevermore. He truly embodied the following quote:
“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”-Steve Grellet
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made at www.gofundme/tnakato or in person at the Celebration.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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