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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 9, 2002

Raymond Higuchi, newspaper artist, dead at 82

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Raymond Higuchi was drawing detailed maps, caricatures and other graphics long before computers made life easy for newspaper artists.

His ability to draw clear pictures and touch-up fuzzy photos on deadline was praised by his editors.

Higuchi, the former editorial artist at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin who retired in 1987 after 41 years of service, died July 30 in Honolulu. He was 82.

"He was very fast and very efficient," said former Star-Bulletin news editor Chuck Frankel. "In those times, we did not have the sophisticated graphics that you have now and an artist was required to be a mapmaker, do a spot (map) where a fire occurred on a street, or where a certain city was in Romania."

Higuchi was a one-man art department at the Star-Bulletin. He joined the paper in 1946 and worked in its commercial printing division before taking over as editorial artist nine years later.

"He was a pleasure to work with," Frankel said.

Higuchi was born on July 12, 1920, in Wailuku, Maui. He was a junior at the University of Hawai'i majoring in art when World War II began and he went to work as a sign painter for the Army Engineers.

After the war, Higuchi earned his college degree and started his career with the Star-Bulletin.

"He was a quiet guy who just did his work," said former Star-Bulletin sports editor Bill Kwon, who now writes about golf for The Advertiser. "He was one of these guys who you could rely on."

Higuchi also was an accomplished oil painter and was known for his sea and landscapes.

He is survived by sons, Blake and Forde; daughters, Claudia Furumoto and Audrey; three grandchildren; mother, Hatsuyo; brother, Kenneth; and sister, Janet Murakami.

Private services have been held.