Togo Nakagawa, a member of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team who later served as city prosecutor and a state judge, and earned a reputation for fairness and decency, died last week.

Nakagawa, 84, received assistance from St. Francis Hospice and died peacefully May 15 at his home, his family said.

"He took Asian values very seriously and that meant work and family came before any personal consideration," said Senior Family Court Circuit Judge Frances Wong, who served with Nakagawa on the Family Court bench.

"Personally, he's the stereotypical, Japanese samurai gentleman," she said.

Wong said Nakagawa, like many World War II veterans of the 442nd, never talked about the accomplishments of the highly decorated group or his own accomplishments. Although he might have come across as stern, it was only because he wanted to do the "right thing" and keep the proper decorum as a judge, she said.

But among his colleagues, Nakagawa would show his warm side, laughing and smiling and supporting the other judges, she said.

"He was really the consummate public servant," Wong said.

Those who worked with him at the city prosecutor's office also remember him as a gentleman.

"He was a very fair and a very decent man," said Honolulu attorney Art Ross, who worked under Nakagawa and his successor, Charles Marsland, who died April 11 at his home on his 84th birthday. "It was those characteristics that he passed on (to) his deputies."

Keith Kaneshiro, who succeeded Marsland, said Nakagawa hired him as deputy prosecutor.

"He was like a father figure in the prosecutor's office," Kaneshiro said. "Through him, I learned a lot about prosecution, about fairness and the concept that the prosecutor is to seek justice, not convictions."

Nakagawa, the son of immigrants from Japan, graduated from McKinley High School and served as a staff sergeant with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

He attended refrigeration school in Chicago on the GI Bill and worked as a refrigeration mechanic and civilian Army supply clerk before graduating from the University of Hawai'i and the George Washington University Law School in 1967.

Nakagawa was admitted to the Hawai'i bar in 1968 at the age of 45.

He was a deputy prosecutor from 1968 until 1977 when then-Mayor Frank Fasi appointed him city prosecutor.

He served until 1980 when the position became an elective office and Marsland won the election.

Nakagawa was a part-time Family Court district judge from 1982 to 1986 when he was appointed a full-time Family Court district judge.

He retired in 1992.

He is survived by his wife, Gloria; a son, John; stepsons, Clifford, Calvin and Curtis Chung; stepdaughters, Marjorie Malta, Linda Spieker and Gail Navor; 18 stepgrandchildren; seven stepgreat-grandchildren; a brother, Seigo; and sisters, Beatrice Ishibashi and Betty Kuroda.

Visitation is from 5 to 6 p.m. and service is at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hosoi Garden Mortuary. No flowers. Aloha attire.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.