Nao Takasugi, Former Assemblyman Dies

Sacramento (myFOXla.com) - Former state Assemblyman Nao Takasugi, who was sent to a Japanese internment camp during World War II, has died. He was 87. Takasugi, a Republican from Oxnard, spent six years in the Legislature before he was termed out of office in 1998. He had been the mayor of Oxnard for 10 years before winning the Assembly seat.

Takasugi is the father of our reporter Tricia Takasugi. His son, Ronald Takasugi, said Friday that his father died Thursday night of complications from a stroke. Robert Garcia of Garcia Mortuary in Oxnard told The Associated Press that arrangements are pending.

Takasugi was a 19-year-old student at UCLA when he was sent to an internment camp. He later graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia before returning to California.