Kiyoshi Robert Kanagawa

Bob Kanagawa is one of the two remaining ori@ charter members of the Sanger Rotary Club. At an age that he describes as "past 85" Kanagawa has been in Rotary for 49 years and has seen many services done. He has watched as the Sanger Rotary Club grow. At first only a group with 25 members, it now quite possibly could be the club with the largest membership in town.

"I started it. I was the one who was pushing it in order to organize the club. We had to have 25 members to start and I was the very first. I was even the one who encouraged Walt Gilgert to join," said Kanagawa.

While being a Rotarian, Kanagawa has engaged in some of Rotary's major accomplishments for Sanger and the world. Accomplishments such as the Senior Citizen's Christmas Luncheon, trash pick up in the Jensen Ave and McCall area, Senior Exit Interviews, Sanger Deep Pit Barbecue, installation of a fountain in Lincoln Park, starting a reading program for kids, vocational advice for children, and the financing and renovation of the Little League Park; are all things in which Kanagawa took part.

Giving back to schools is a large part of what Rotary does, like raising $9,000 for scholarships that go to graduating seniors. Even throughout the world like the Polio Eradication program, Kanagawa can proudly say he's played a part due to Rotary. Never burning out on the Rotary spirit, Kanagawa has been an active member of Rotary throughout the years.

He is a past president of the Sanger Rotary Club and also a past District Governor. When it was all one office, Kanagawa was the secretary and treasurer. He spent seven years on the City Recreation Commission and five years as the chairman for the Sanger Booth at the Fresno Fair's Agriculture display. He was the also the chairman for the Grape Bowl - Festival which is now called the Harvest Fest. He is a life member of the Sanger High PTA and was a charter member of the JACL Club. He was the director of both the Chamber of Commerce and Citrus Association. Kanagawa was even chosen as the Sanger Man of the Year.

Kanagawa was born on the ranch where he still resides today. He wasn't born in a hospital, but on the ranch because Sanger Hospital didn't yet exist. However, his one brother and three sisters were fortunate enough to be born in the hospital. "If I would have been born a year later I would've been born in the hospital," explains Kanagawa of his birth.

Kanagawa graduated from Sanger high then went on to the Central California Community College. After college he spent three years at the Poston High School Relocation Center in Arizona where he taught in the Commercial Department. He returned to Sanger to run the family's nursery business and ranch. Kanagawa Lives on a hill on East McKinley with his wife Rieko. He has three sons, two step-sons, and two grandchildren. Two of his sons run Sanger Nursery, which Kanagawa founded over 50 years ago; Kanagawa is retired now, but still does a little farming.

Kanagawa still stands proud as an original charter member of Rotary. While others quit or decided it wasn't for them, Kanagawa stayed true to serving his community. After watching Sanger Rotary grow from small to large, and after 49 years, Kanagawa
marches on. He hasn't burned out on community service and throughout the years, Kanagawa has been more than an active member of the Sanger Rotary Club.

Robert Kanagawa died on 9/25/2004 in Fresno County.