Guy Kurose helped troubled youth

Guy Kurose was a Japanese-American Black Panther who helped the group deliver breakfasts to schoolchildren. He was a teenage anti-war activist from the Vietnam era who once got suspended from high school for wearing an American flag draped like a poncho over his body. And he was a black-belt karate master who was talented enough to work out with the legendary Bruce Lee.

But Mr. Kurose, above all, was a friend, mentor and counselor for youth. He reached out to hundreds of kids wherever he found them — in his martial-arts classes, in the homes of his friends and on the streets, where he helped gang toughs turn around troubled lives and get involved in the community.

Mr. Kurose died Saturday at the age of 49 at Swedish Medical Center of complications from cancer.

He never married and had no children of his own. But his family and friends say he left behind a rich legacy in the youth that he helped.

"We are certainly his blood relatives," said his sister, Ruthann Kurose. "But his definition of family goes far beyond his siblings. He is survived by all his kids."

Mr. Kurose was born into a Seattle family that is legendary in its own right.

His mother, Aki Kurose, was a survivor of World War II internment who went on to become an elementary-school teacher and peace activist. She managed Gov. Gary Locke's first campaign for the state Legislature and won numerous awards — including a United Nations Human Rights Award — and was profiled by oral historian Studs Terkel as one of the nation's outstanding older Americans. Today, the Aki Kurose Middle School in Seattle bears her name.

Mr. Kurose — born Dec. 21, 1952 — was the third-eldest of six children in the family home in the Madrona neighborhood. As a young boy, he would bring home stray dogs and cats along with a constant stream of friends. By the age of 12, he already was a participant in civil-rights protests that his mother helped organize in the Central Area.

"He was enthusiastic, animated and charismatic," recalls Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Gossett, who attended some of those demonstrations.

As a teenager, Mr. Kurose began to work with the Black Panthers and earned the distinction of becoming an Asian-American member of the group, according to Aaron Dixon, a friend and fellow Black Panther from that era.

Mr. Kurose graduated from Garfield High School and attended the University of Washington. In his early 20s he went to Japan, where he attended Tenri University, earned a black belt in karate and mastered the Japanese language.

Returning to the United States, Mr. Kurose never fit easily into a career niche.

At various times he worked as an airline reservationist, a Nordstrom shoe salesman, a bouncer at a jazz bar, a jazz disc jockey for public radio and a marketing representative in Los Angeles.

Family and friends say that his own struggles helped him understand the troubles of others as he helped Seattle youth.

He touched many lives through his karate classes at Rainier Community Center, which combined martial arts with motivational teachings. In his classes, he made students pledge that they would get good grades, do their homework, respect their parents and stay away from gangs and drugs. And he often checked to make sure they honored those pledges.

If a student didn't have enough money to pay for karate clothing, he would help them out. If they needed a ride, he drove them home. If they needed a hot meal, he got them something to eat.

Through the 1990s, Mr. Kurose took a series of counseling jobs, often with gang youth. His last job was with the Center for Career Alternatives on Rainier Avenue South, where he worked until he was hospitalized earlier this month.

In his final weeks at the hospital, Mr. Kurose had lots of visitors.

Many relatives — sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews — came to the hospital. From Japan came an old karate master and friends. Then there were the kids — an ethnic rainbow of African Americans, Samoans, Asians and whites who would stand by his bedside, many of them silent, some crying.

Survivors include sisters Ruthann of Mercer Island and Marie Woo of Seattle; and brothers Hugo of Seattle and Paul of Seattle.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com.