Obituary: Burt Sagawa survived WWII separation to become 3M chemist

In childhood photos, Burt Sagawa is the one looking away from the camera. His siblings have their eyes trained straight ahead, but his are somewhere else.

"All his life, he wanted to do things his way," said his wife, Lauretta Ruby. "He was always that way."

Sagawa, a World War II survivor, patent-holding chemist and deeply devout Christian, died July 23. A Crystal resident, he was 92.

Born in Arizona to Japanese immigrants, Sagawa spent the early part of his life on the family truck farm. Their nationality prevented them from owning land, so they rented one plot and then another, growing vegetables, melons, even cotton.

When Sagawa was a young adolescent, his parents decided that he and his younger sister, Midori, should live in Japan for a while to learn about their native culture. It was meant to be temporary.

Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Burt and Midori were stuck in Tokyo, and the rest of the family was shipped off to internment camps.

"I didn't realize the kind of suffering that they had to go through until much later," said James Sagawa, Burt's youngest brother. "My parents had no idea the conditions under which their kids in Japan were surviving."

"He was from that generation where men don't cry," said son Tim Sagawa. "If he had a bad day … I was never aware of it."

Over time, though, details emerged: He had seen airplanes shot out of the sky. He once rode a train that was bombed. To keep himself sane, he developed a habit of listening to classical music.

When the war ended, Tokyo had been decimated. Sagawa got a job as an interpreter for occupying U.S. forces and eventually saved enough money for the journey home. His sister stayed behind.

Sagawa spent some time in Arizona, meeting siblings so much younger that he was a stranger to them. His brother James, 17 years his junior, hadn't even been born when Burt left for Japan.

Burt Sagawa went on to earn a degree from the University of Illinois and wound up in Minnesota after landing a job as a chemist at 3M. During 32 years there, his work included projects for the U.S. Department of Defense and work on a precursor to the Xerox machine.

Mitsue Shindo, her husband and three children were one of those families. After emigrating to the United States as an adult, she said, she found the group to be a source of comfort — "just like family."

In addition to Sagawa's involvement with his faith community — including work with the evangelical organization Gideons International — he was closely involved with Republican politics, serving as a state delegate.

He also had a great love for the outdoors and was an avid gardener. Daughter Lisa Dengerud recalled a childhood filled with camping, canoeing, sailing, hiking and hunting for rocks along the North Shore.

In 1985, Miyoko died. Sagawa married Ruby a few years later. As a college student, she had volunteered at the Japanese church, playing piano and directing the choir. The two reconnected years later at a church reunion and were married for 27 years.

"I miss him terribly," Ruby said. "But I can't wish him back."

Emma Nelson • 612-673-4509