A Grateful Tribute to Dr. Kawasaki

I feel extremely fortunate to have known Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki. He was a true gentleman and a friend to all of us in the Kawasaki disease field. He was one of the kindest people I ever met. I remember particularly how strongly he spoke out against war and conflict. I learned so much from interacting with him. I remember with fondness hosting a party at my home in the Chicago area to honor him and Reiko, when they were visiting Chicago in 2005. They really enjoyed social gatherings! Reiko was a devoted wife who took very good care of him and was also a wonderful role model. Tomi was very interested in our etiology research and he sent me many encouraging notes about our progress over time. This made me want to work all the harder to solve the difficult problem of Kawasaki disease etiology. We will honor his memory by continuing this work, and I will never forget the precious time we had with him.