James Matthew Kaiser

James Matthew David Kaiser passed away March 24, 2021 in Mission Viejo, California. He was born January 25, 1977 in State College, PA to Roger and Sharon Kaiser and elder sister Rebecca. James attended elementary and middle schools in Painesville, Ohio, and St. Peters MO. Prior to high school he moved to Smyrna, Delaware where he graduated in 1995. His high school years were spent heavily involved in running sports: Cross Country and Track. After High School he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving 4 years in the Combat Engineers. After his service he enrolled in Oklahoma State University and obtained a B.S. in Molecular Biology. He moved to Harrisburg, PA and worked at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in the Pharmacology Department, later earning his MS in Pharmacology. He then moved to Southern California and worked for Allergan. He earned his Health Care Executive MBA from the University of California Irvine in 2016. For the last four years James has worked for Hoya International doing his “dream job” in venture capital acquisition. He loved the challenge of working to bring new inventions and intelligence to the marketplace and the global scope of this international company. When James was an undergraduate he met the love of his life during his junior year abroad at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. He married Tomoko Sakamoto in July 2004 in Hawaii. James loved his family and the time they spent together at sporting events, watching Hannah run and Kai play baseball and soccer. He loved to play the guitar and sing songs while Nina dances and sings along with him.  He was an avid rock climber, sharing this pastime with his family and friends, with Yosemite, Tahquitz and Joshua Tree  among his favorites. He was an amazing cook and a baker also. His memory will live on through his family: wife Tomoko, children Hannah, Kyle (Kai), and Nina, his mother Sharon Kaiser and sister Rebecca Thomson. He is preceded in death by his father Roger.