George J. Naganuma Obituary – San Francisco, CA

George Naganuma was born in San Francisco. His mother, June Yamamoto, was born in Hawaii and his father, Leo Naganuma, was born in Japan. George saw active military service during the Korean War and was interned on the Gila River Reservation during World War II. He followed in the footsteps of his father, who was the first Japanese American to obtain his plumbing license in the United States. George's first job was as an apprentice pipefitter at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. He received his associates degree in mechanical engineering from Cogswell Polytechnical College in 1949 and received his California State Contractor's License in 1961. In the same year he took over the family business Naganuma Plumbing. He has been a consultant for Servadei Service Inc, Higash & Associates, Kalman Mechanical Contractors and Keller & Gannon. He worked at New City Plumbing Inc., where he helped build housing, schools and health care facilities. Through his later companies, Metro Plumbing, Inc. and GM Plumbing, Inc., he worked at UCSF, supporting the hospital's major construction and renovation projects. George served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Master Plumbers Association of San Francisco, an organization that has supported plumbing businesses for over 100 years. He was its last chairman until 2016. George was active in the Japanese-American jazz scene, playing drums and hand drums. George was a lively and active person who enjoyed bowling, golf, hunting and fishing. He was a long-time member of the Presidio Golf Club and served as its president for two years. George was an avid traveler and traveled not only throughout the United States, but also visited Mexico, Tahiti, Hong Kong, Japan, Scotland, England, Italy and France. George married his wife Mary in 1964 and they have lived in San Francisco for 52 years.

He was husband to Mary Naganuma, father to Gary (Debbie), Richard (Maureen) and Kenneth (Suzanne), Kathleen and Claudine (Joel), stepfather to Glenn (Karen), Judith and Ruth (Ken) and grandfather to Chris, Nick , Alex, Micah, Allison and Brooke and step-grandfather of Dae, Garrett, Kelly and Noel and brother of Jean Shigematsu.

Contributions in George's memory may be made to Buddha's Universal Church, 720 Washington Street, San Francisco CA 94108.