Obituary: Beloved health care leader Yoshi Honkawa

Yoshi Honkawa, a former longtime health care executive and influential figure in health care policy and advocacy in both California and nationally, died Sept. 22 at age 100.

Honkawa's career began in 1964 at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, where he served as comptroller and assistant administrator for five years, before becoming associate administrator in 1969. That year he also joined the Los Angeles County Department of Hospitals and later worked at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

In 1975 he joined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he began as the director of finance before becoming vice president for government and industry relations from 1978-2001. Honkawa was a recipient of the AHA Board of Trustees Award in 1993 and was inducted into the Modern Healthcare Hall of Fame in 2014.

"Health care is and always will be a profoundly human experience," said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. "There are few leaders in our sector who personified this better than Yoshi Honkawa. His service and leadership over five decades had a profound impact at Cedars-Sinai, and his dedication and commitment to advancing health for patients and communities were an inspiration for countless people in our field. A mentor to many of us and a friend to all, he will be missed, but his legacy lives on."

Among other notable accomplishments, Honkawa served on the State of California Advisory Health Council, when then-Governor Ronald Reagan appointed him as the panel's first chairman. He was also appointed to and later chaired the National Council on Health Planning and Development under President Jimmy Carter. Honkawa also had a passion for increasing diversity in health care leadership and management, and he was a founding member of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management in 1994.

Tom Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, worked with Honkawa at the health system when his career began in 1979.

"Everyone who cares about patients and health care has lost a friend," Priselac said. "Yoshi was one of a kind who gave of himself to others more than anyone I know. As a hospital advocate and as a mentor, he set a standard that all of us strive to live up to. His wisdom, advice and support made the association-related aspects of my career possible."