Obituary of Daniel Maruoka

Daniel Maruoka Born October 7, 1938 Died May 13, 2011 Husband, father, grandfather, pharmacist, business owner, golfer, coffee lover extraordinaire. On October 7, 1938, Hatsue and Motoi Maruoka brought into this world a baby boy they named Daniel Satoru Maruoka. Unfortunately (but fortunately) this timing coincided with WWII and as the war raged on this young family would have been forced into an internment camp for Japanese immigrants if they did not leave the west coast. Motoi and his family which now also included his younger brother, Samuel (who sadly predeceased Dan in July 2010), escaped to Alberta. With only hard work and determination they eventually settled in Chatham, Ontario. Here Dan excelled academically, winning numerous awards but also athletically - eventually proudly being inducted into the Chatham Hall of Fame for baseball. Dan set his sites on becoming a pharmacist and reached this goal graduating from the University Of Toronto Pharmacy College in 1961. Dan worked his way up quickly eventually becoming chief pharmacist at Ajax and Pickering General Hospital. And I guess this is where it all started, meeting a fireball of a women (red hair and all), Ann Doherty. Six months later they were married on April 19, 1969. This whirlwind romance continued on for over 42 years - a love we would all like to aspire to. Eventually this marriage produced two children, Neil and Julie as well as two successful businesses proudly run by the husband and wife team in Strathroy, Ontario. Did I mention yet that he loved to golf? He loved to golf with a passion and he loved all the buddies that shared this with him. Continuing with family, his son Neil Maruoka married Katie Bruner and has two wonderful children, Molly (4) and Eamonn (1). His Daughter, Julie Maruoka, married Derek Sholomicki and also has two wonderful children, Anika (5) and Oscar (2). Now this is where another chapter begins and Dan takes on a new name, Jiji. A name that lit up his face whenever he heard it. This was a role that he was born to play and gave all his time and effort to. Whether it was buying golf clubs for a 5 year old, taking them to Starbucks for hot chocolate and cookie, on-demand trips to the park or swimming pool, or practicing ice-skating for hours just so he's prepared to teach his granddaughters. Our only regret is that he didn't have enough time with them but what a time they had! Words cannot express how we feel about this man. Many great things have been said about many people but they don't come close. The only solace I have is if you're reading this then you have gotten a glimpse of him and if you put together everyone's thoughts that have ever met Dan, you might come close but still not close enough. Good bye to the last Gentleman, we will forever miss and love Dan, partner, dad, Jiji and likely most of all Best Friend. Written by his daughter