Roy Ashikari
Obituary Reports the death of an individual, providing an account of the person’s life including their achievements, any controversies in which they were involved, and reminiscences by people who knew them.
It is with sadness to announce the passing of Roy H. Ashikari MD, FACS on the evening of June 12 at the age of 91 after a battle with multiple physical injuries and strokes.
Roy was born on Sept. 9, 1931, in Dairen, China, which Japan occupied at that time. His father, Sueki Ashikari, was a prominent city councilman. He and his family were able to escape much of the bombing during World War II due to the remote location of Dairen. After the war ended, the Communist Chinese retook Dairen, and at the age of 14, Roy emigrated with his family to mainland Japan.
With the encouragement and support from his father, Roy entered Keio University and eventually Keio Medical School in Tokyo, one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan. Upon graduation, at the age of 28, he immigrated to the United States and performed his internship at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx. During his internship, he met his first wife, Judy Wheeler, with whom he had two children.
After completing his internship, he went on to complete a surgical residency at Mount Sinai Hospital and then a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Unfortunately, in 1967, he lost his first wife to cancer. He remarried in 1970 to Marilyn Tucker, a former nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering, who helped raise his children.
Roy dedicated his career to the surgical treatment of breast cancer. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, he published multiple scientific papers and became chief of the breast service in 1976. He was an original member of the James Ewing Society, which was formed at Sloan Kettering and later became known as the Society of Surgical Oncology.
In 1980, Roy moved to Westchester Medical Center to establish the first surgical oncology service in Westchester County. He was appointed as professor of surgery at New York Medical College and established the Ashikari Breast Center. After many years, he left Westchester Medical Center and worked at St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains (now closed), Beth Israel North Hospital (since closed), Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx (currently Montefiore-Wakefield), St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers and Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt Manor (now part of NewYork-Presbyterian).
His accomplishments were innumerable. Just to mention a few, he established a U.S.-Japan medical student exchange program in the early 1980s, which has educated hundreds of Japanese and U.S. medical students and continues today. In 2002, Emperor Akihito bestowed on him, the Order of the Sacred Treasure (equivalent to the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the U.S.), which is awarded by the Japanese government. He was also the honored representative for Japan during the reopening ceremony of Ellis Island in 1990, sharing company with the likes of Stan Musial and Danny Thomas. Roy also pioneered a technique of nipple sparing mastectomies, which is now utilized throughout the world and has given countless women improved cosmetic outcomes with equivalent survival results compared to more aggressive disfiguring surgical approaches.
Dr. Ashikari retired in 2015 at age 84, leaving the Ashikari Breast Center to his son, who joined him in practice in 1999. He was a dedicated father and an athlete, playing ice hockey, basketball and baseball as a youth and was an avid golfer later in life.
He is survived by his two sons, Andrew and Richard, as well as six grandchildren and his second wife, Marilyn Ashikari.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, June 24 at Beecher Flooks Funeral Home located at 418 Bedford Rd. in Pleasantville (www.beecherflooksfh.com). A private burial will be performed at Ferncliff Cemetery on June 26 at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to his alma matter, Keio Giyuku, which now has a location in Purchase as Keio Academy of New York, where he served on the board of trustees for many years (https://www.Keio.edu/giving). Click the link to the Ashikari Memorial Scholarship Fund to donate.
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