Toshinori Munakata
April 4, 2021
Toshinori Munakata passed away on April 4, 2021 after a full life of nearly 90 years. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, and extended family. Toshinori attended the University of Tokyo, where he earned his undergraduate degree in geology and master’s degree and PhD in applied physics. He spent most of his career as a Professor of Computer Science at Cleveland State University, with research spanning many of the most important realms of artificial intelligence. In 2011, Toshinori was profiled as one of the "25 Japanese people that changed the world" in the 25th Anniversary edition of Newsweek Japan. He was passionate about his field and enjoyed eating Japanese food, traveling to California and Japan, spending time with his family, and listening to music (particularly enka, Japanese ballad music).
Care of arrangements have been entrusted to Stork-Bullock Family Mortuary of Denver,
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for any donations to be sent to the Japanese Benevolent Society of California, 1765 Sutter St. 2nd Floor, San Francisco CA 94115.
The Family Has Requested That You Do Not Purchase Flowers But Instead Please Donate To The Charity Listed Above.
My deepest sympathy to Mrs. Munakata and all three girls and their families.
Mr. Munakata was a very kind man. He had a wonderful well respected career in education and he and his wife raised three very intelligent and successful daughters. They were my neighbors and friends in Brecksville Ohio.
I remember taking tai chai classes with him at the Brecksville Human Services Center.
My deepest condolences to his family.
Joan Deuch
Brecksville Ohio/Naples,Florida
Dr. Munakata was my instructor in about 1988 in the Cleveland State graduate class on Data Structures. I recall him as an exceptionally clear expositor of the sometimes complicated subject, always focusing on the underlying principles to make the fundamental basis of a topic clear and the complexities of the implementation that often obscured the basis appear as natural and essential consequences. I have tried since to follow his example.
I thought of him today – January 29, 2023 – in reading of and thinking about recent advances in artificial intelligence, a field in which I know he was an early investigator and would have been following closely. I was saddened to find that he had died several years ago and want to tell you of my shared sense of loss..
Today I noticed that Dr.Munakata passed away. After over 10years of not writing any mail. Dr.Munakata and his wife stayed at the hotel that I used to work twenty years ago. Today I thought about him because I was watching the baseball game between Koryo High school and Keio High school. Koryo High school is the school that he graduated in Hiroshima Japan. When he and his wife visited my house in 2011, he talked about his school days in Koryo with my parents which happened to be from Hiroshima also. Today after watching the baseball game, I emailed him to share the game results. But unfortunately, it was returned and I ended up writing his memories here. He was a very nice kind and intelligent person. My parents who are now over 80 had also liked his personality although they only met once.
May he rest in peace.
Yae Fukuda
Tosh's office was adjacent to mine at CSU in the 80s. I knew he was an expert in AI and the Editor of one of the ACM's publications but I was a Programming and Systems Design Prof and realized soon after observing Tosh for a while that he was far above me in his knowledge of technical aspects of computing. I felt honored when he would quite often stop by to ask a question about some English language construction he needed for some article he was writing.
He stopped by to see me (in San Francisco) a number of years ago . . . I believe he was researching the area with in mind the possibility of moving to California to teach and be closer to his daughters who were living here already. I lost track of him later, but have always felt it was definitely something special to have known him for the short time I did.
Hello Dr. Munakata, today I consulted your “Fundamentals of the new AI”, and searched for some background bio, then landed here. It strikes me that a man, the same age as my dad, was already so ahead of the new developments in AI. And your explanation is so clear! It’s gratyfing to realize that your book will help so many young people to acquire the first insights into AI. Your family can be proud. Rest in peace.