Dean Otsuki's Obituary
Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary and Diamond Head Mortuary are saddened to announce the passing of Dean Otsuki. We are honored to be assisting the family during this difficult time.
Dean Warren Otsuki of Kailua, Hawaii passed away on December 8, 2023. He was 61 years old and was born in Gilroy, California. After many months of walking beaches and cleaning up debris every day and organizing beach clean ups with other organizations, Dean and his wife Suzanne Frazer co-founded a nonprofit: Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (BEACH) in 2006 to raise awareness and bring solutions to the problem of plastic marine debris. Dean's 17 years of volunteer work with BEACH included removing millions of pieces of plastic from micro size fragments to huge nets from Hawaii's coastlines, marine debris sorting and research, educating people of all ages at outreach events, website and graphic design, leading workshops to create Hi5 wire recycle bins for beach parks, testifying and helping to pass new state laws banning smoking at beaches and balloon releases as well as numerous laws at the county level including plastic bag and polystyrene foam container bans. Dean's hard work was recognized through winning a state-wide Volunteer of the Year Award through Kanu Hawaii, the Living Reef Award and the Astrid and Donald Monson Award. He also appeared in the documentary film "Bag It" and in many newspaper articles and local and international TV news.
Dean's great passion was surfing which he started when he was young and was the reason he moved to Hawaii. He was also a very good swimmer and won many medals and ribbons during his school years. He also enjoyed doing art, painting and photography.
Dean attended Salinas High School, he got his Bachelor's degree in Business at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and did an Associates degree in Graphic Design at Honolulu Community College.
Dean's work over his lifetime included helping his parents at the strawberry farm in California, travelling throughout the U.S. selling books, teaching English in Japan, working for Prudential Insurance in Hawaii and working for BiteSquad as a delivery driver mostly in the Kailua and Kaneohe area. He greatly enjoyed his job with BiteSquad and worked hard to achieve many times the number 1 driver spot for the week.
Dean loved and was very kind to animals and his pets included cats Moku, Marbles and Pierre and birds Bella and Twinkle and fish Bubbles and Comet.
In 2009 Dean was diagnosed with CMML2, a chronic form of leukemia. He managed that illnesses for 14 years and was stable up until sometime after April 20th, 2023 when he transformed to AML, an acute and aggressive form of leukemia. He had AML for the last 6 months of his life and fought hard to survive it right to the end.
He is survived by his loving wife Suzanne, his brother Jon and his wife Sharon, and his nieces Erin, Isabelle, Jennifer, Angela, Kiri and Lucy and nephews Adam, Jacob, Duncan, Davis, and Rylan.
Dean Otsuki Commemorative Event. Friday 18th April (Dean's birthday) at Kuhio Beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian hotel/Duke's restaurant. Main event 8am - 11am including traditional paddle out, lunch afterwards at 12:30pm, stay as long as you like - enjoy the beach, swim, surf, join in art, painting or games, watch the sunset. Please wear a flower lei for the ceremony and bring a surfboard or kayak. Also welcome to watch the paddle out from the beach and join in commemoration activities on shore including sharing memories of Dean's life. RSVP by text to: (808) 554 2902 by Friday 21st March, 2025.
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