Brett Kanazawa

1967 - 2018

Brett Shinnosuke Kanazawa

Mountain View, CA

Brett Kanazawa was born on June 29, 1967 in Urbana, Illinois. Brett's birth carried an omen of the positive impacts and benefits that his life would have on his family and future friends and acquaintances: His birth provided the deferment of his father's pending induction into the war in Vietnam and allowed his parents to begin their family intact and in peace.
Brett moved with his parents to California at the age of two.

Brett was raised in Saratoga, CA in a neighborhood filled with childhood friends and diverse families where he became the leader of the pack on his stingray bike. Regular runnings of the 'Oriole 500' were held on his parents' partially paved circular driveway and the winner awarded a makeshift trophy. Brett was also the owner, publisher and writer of a weekly newspaper which sold for a discounted price of three cents per copy. He managed it for five years. The weekly paper included all of the latest news of the neighborhood, most of which was unremarkable, but a compelling read and much anticipated by its loyal subscribers. Brett attended Saratoga schools and became increasingly engaged in school activities and politics. He showed his ease and composure for public speaking in numerous settings and was chosen to give the address for his high school baccalaureate service. His speech was later featured in the San Jose Mercury News. Much to the delight of his Cal alumni parents, Brett chose to attend Cal and lived in Griffiths Hall as did his father and was elected dorm president. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1989 with a double major in history and economics and earned an MBA in 1991 at U.C. Irvine where he was recognized as Outstanding Student in his graduating class.

Brett worked in human resources at Sun Microsystems and steadily developed his skills in all aspects of HR including mediation of management-employee issues. Incredibly, he remained at Sun for sixteen years including its downsizing.. Subsequently, Brett worked at several other computer technology companies in Silicon Valley who benefited from his unique set of skills. This included a commitment to the fair treatment of employees caught in the scrutiny of the performance appraisal process. In one instance Brett argued for, and won, an extension for an employee suffering a health condition that affected job attendance and performance. In another instance, he argued in defense of an employee facing termination for reasons that Brett believed to be unfair which precipitated in the firing of Brett. Brett never regretted his decision.

Brett's first and everlasting love was Cal. He served on the California Alumni Association's Young Alumni Council and subsequently was elected President of YAC. He joined the California Alumni Association's Board of Directors and quickly thrived as a Board Member. He organized events and loved his involvement in the "We're Going to Cal" program to help underprivileged students gain access to the Cal campus and to inspire them that attending college was a possibility. Based on Brett's leadership, desire to achieve consensus, infectious personality, and generous contributions to the CAA, Brett was unanimously elected President. During the brief time he was President-elect, Brett learned about some allegations of misconduct by CAA leadership and asked for an investigation into the allegations. Although Brett was removed from the Board before he could serve his term as President, Brett had the courage to face the truth and to do the right thing because of it being right.

Brett died on November 1, 2018 at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA after a two-year illness. He died at peace with his parents at his bedside. The loss of Brett is being grieved by his parents, Richard Kanazawa and June Kanazawa, his brother Curtis Kanazawa, his uncles, aunts and cousins in both the Bay Area and SoCal as well as the many friends he made throughout his 51 years of life.

As was his wish, no funeral services or memorials will be held. His ashes are to be scattered at a location he specified. Private remembrances have been held with the immediate family.

Donations may be made to The Brett Kanazawa Memorial Scholarship in the History Department. Please send checks made payable to UC Berkeley Foundation, 1995 University Avenue Suite 400, Berkeley, CA 94704-1070 and indicate the Kanazawa Fund.