Shosuke Sasaki, 90, was born in Japan and came to the U.S. in his early childhood. In 1942, shortly after he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Washington, he and his family were sent to the Camp Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. After World War II, he worked in New York and Denver as a financial analyst before retiring and returning to Seattle in the '70s. All this time, he was a tireless activist on behalf of Americans of Japanese descent. He was a leader in the movement to obtain reparations for WWII internees; he gave many speeches and interviews on the topic up until his final days. He was heard in Rabbit in the Moon, a 1999 PBS documentary, and is quoted on the historical website densho.org. In 1978 he helped found the Day of Remembrance, an annual commemoration of the internments and their victims. In the '50s and early '60s he also campaigned against the use of the term "Jap" in movies and print media. Sasaki died on November 1 from natural causes.
Bobby Simon, 65, was a journeyman disc jockey on local AM radio in the 1960s and '70s. Using the nicknames "The Simonizer" and "B.S. in the Great Northwest," he wandered his way through KEED in Springfield, OR, KAYE in Puyallup, KORD in Pasco, and KNEW in Spokane before he joined the all-star team at Seattle's top-40 giant KJR. He eventually served four different stints at KJR; in between, he worked at KOL in Seattle, KISN in Portland, and KTAC in Tacoma. He later held shifts at Seattle FM stations KZOK and KYYX. In a memoir posted on the nostalgia website kjrseattle.com, Simon recalled the first time he was fired by KJR boss Pat O'Day: "I lasted about a year till Pat had to let me go for telling a Girl Scout joke on the night a Girl Scout was killed in an auto accident unbeknownst to me. (First lesson for a DJ: Read the newspaper before going on the air.)" Simon died on November 2 in an auto accident near Centralia.
