Art Kishiyama

Died

May 21, 1942 - April 17, 2019 Art Kishiyama, a former builder of international theme parks at Walt Disney Imagineering, passed away April 17 at the age of 76 from cancer. His creative and colorful career as an Imagineer spanned 15 years. Before his retirement in 2002, he led the team that built DisneySea, adjacent to Tokyo Disneyland. Created from landfill out of Tokyo Bay, the maritime themed park, hotel and shopping complex opened in 2001 and entertains about 13 million visitors annually.Art and his wife Lynn, an established artist and teacher in the Central Coast area, were most recently working on their Olio Nuevo brand of boutique olive oil. Grown on his sun-soaked, 20-acre Ranch at Cripple Creek in Paso Robles, Olio Nuevo was on store shelves in three states and bought worldwide by hundreds of discriminating seekers of artisan olive oil. He was also the former president of the Central Coast Olive Growers, representing about 70 local olive farms.Arthur Yukio Kishiyama was born May 21, 1942, in a temporary World War II relocation center in Pomona. He and his family were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyo., for the duration of the war. His childhood years were in Los Angeles, where his parents ran a mom and pop grocery store that eventually grew into one of the first local supermarkets. After graduating from San Luis Obispo High School in 1959 and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1964 with an architecture degree, Art joined the Air Force where he retired 26 years later with the rank of colonel.Art is survived by his wife of 46 years, Lynn, two brothers David and Michael, a sister Chiyo Lacy, and several nieces and nephews.Celebration of life observances are planned for Los Angeles and Paso Robles. In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to be made to the Japanese American National Museum and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Published on: 22-04-2019