Edward Harold Hepner

Edward Harold Hepner, 86, of Richmond and formerly of Alexandria, passed away on April 22, 2004. Mr. Hepner was born on April 24, 1917, to Lutheran missionary parents in Osaka, Japan, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. He returned to the United States to attend Roanoke College, from which he graduated with honors in 1937 with a degree in economics. After college, he served as an officer of the National City Bank of New York in Tokyo and Kobe, Japan, and in Harbin, Manchuria. During World War II, he served as a combat military intelligence officer under General Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific Theater, using his Japanese language skills to interrogate captured Japanese combatants on the battlefield, and later as the commanding officer of the 167th Language Detachment. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Bronze Star. Upon conclusion of active military service in 1946, he returned to Japan as pro-manager of the Tokyo branch of the National City Bank of New York, which was the first American business to reopen in Japan after the war. He subsequently helped reopen the Osaka and Yokohama branches. He joined the James I. Miller Tobacco Company in 1949 and for the next six years was their Far East representative, responsible for sales and business development in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Over the remaining years of his career, Mr. Hepner earned a master of business administration, and worked as an international banker and as an international trade consultant. He also served as a special assistant to U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. on international trade and finance. Mr. Hepner was predeceased by his wife of 34 years, Katherine. He is survived by daughter, Allie O'Connor and son-in-law, Bill O'Connor of Medford, Oregon; and by daughter, Susan Siegfried, son-in-law, Bob Siegfried, and grandson, Robert Edward Siegfried of Richmond. Services will be held on Wednesday, April 28 at 2 p.m. at Epiphany Lutheran Church, 1400 Horsepen Road in Richmond, with interment the following day in Woodstock, Virginia.