General | 12/2/2014 9:55:00 AM

NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT Department of Athletics noted with sadness the passing of Yoshisada Yonezuka, one of the world's foremost practitioners of judo, and a 1991 inductee into the NJIT Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
He died on October 18, 2014 at Hackensack University Medical Center after fighting a rare form of blood cancer in recent years. He was 77 years old. A bone marrow drive was held on his behalf this past summer at the Junior/Senior National Judo Championships in Hawaii.
 
A graduate of Nihon University in his native Japan, Yonezuka moved to the United States in 1960 and in 1962 he founded the Cranford (NJ) Judo Karate Center. Around the same time, he became the founding coach of the Newark College of Engineering judo team, which won the 1964 and 1965 East Coast championship under his guidance. In those days. there were over 80 members of the NCE judo club, with a 12-member varsity squad.
 
In 1988 and again in 1992, he was head coach of the United States judo team in the Olympic Games. He also coached United States teams in three World Judo Championships.
 
According to his biography, he defeated nine second-degree black belts in succession at the Kodokan (The Kodokan Institute; headquarters of the worldwide judo community), he earned a special promotion to third-degree black belt. He also began studying several other styles of martial arts.
 
He was also founder, former President and former Executive Director of the United States Sumo Federation.
 
In 2007, he was awarded the rank of Kudan, which is the ninth-degree black belt in Judo, making him one of only several American residents to be honored with the second-highest judo degree by the United States Judo Federation.
 
Since 1995, he also held the eighth-degree black belt in judo from the Kodokan Judo Institute. He was a godan (fifth-degree) in Sumo.
 
Surviving are a son and a daughter, with four grandchildren, two sisters, two brothers and his former wife, Anastasia Yonezuka.