Shigemasa “Gem” Osaki

Shigemasa “Gem” Osaki passed away on July 2, 2018. He was born in Tokyo, Japan on May 1, 1928 to Kojiro and Shigeko Nakazawa. He is survived by his wife, Tomiko, and this son, Isaac “Ike.”
Gem spent his childhood in Chiba, Japan, a city outside of Tokyo, and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Masters in Botany in 1953, followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1961. Gem was previously married to Shizuko Morita who is Ike’s mother and passed in January 1983, Gem came to the United States in 1961 to be a Research Associate at the Institute of Molecular Biophysics at Florida State University (FSU) on a Fulbright Scholarship. From 1966 to 1968 he was at the University of Oslo as a Visiting Research Scientist for the Norwegian Council for Science and Humanities. In September 1968, Gem returned to Florida to be an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Molecular Biophysics at FSU. Gem became a United States citizen in October 1972. In 1974, Gem joined the faculty at the University of Kansas where he became a tenured Professor of Biochemistry.
Gem left academia in 1976 to become the Director of Research and Development at Boeringer Mannheim Diagnostics in Houston, Texas. Beginning in 1983, Gem turned his focus to Biotechnology research and development and undertook R&D management roles at Beckman Instruments and Hybritech in San Diego, California, and in Salt Lake City, Utah at Albion Instruments, InnerDyne, and finally, Bio SET where he retired in March 2002.
On June 26, 1983, Gem accept Jesus Christ as his lord and savior and was baptized at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. In that same church, he married Tomiko Imuta on November 19, 1983. While in San Diego, Gem, Tomiko, and Pastor Tadayuki Suzuki established the First Southern Baptist Japanese Church of San Diego. In July 1990, Gem, Tomiko and Pastor John Lee established the First Southern Baptist Japanese Church of Utah where Gem was an ordained Deacon and then volunteer Pastor from July 2001 until May 2018. In April 2002, Gem joined the Gideons International, Salt Lake City South Camp serving as Chaplain and Treasurer.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, July 5, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at Memorial Mountain View Mortuary, 3115 East 7800 South, with a viewing to start at 1:00 p.m. prior to the service.
Service Information
Viewing July 5, 2018 at 1:00 - 1:45 PM
Memorial Mountain View Mortuary, 3115 East 7800 South, Cottonwood Heights, Utah





Funeral Service
July 5, 2018 at 2:00 PM
Memorial Mountain View Mortuary, 3115 East 7800 South, Cottonwood Heights, Utah