Pioneering orthodontist, Long Beach native Dr. Raymond Sugiyama dies at 78

A Long Beach native and pioneering orthodontist who helped develop braces better suited to people of Asian descent died May 8.

Dr. Raymond Sugiyama died from complications of pulmonary fibrosis, Sharon, his widow, said Friday. He was 78.

Sugiyama was bo in Long Beach April 23, 1938, she said. He was the youngest and last surviving child of Shigetoshi Sugiyama and Kimi Kawai Sugiyama, who had five sons and one daughter.

Childhood

During World War II, the family was sent to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona — one of 10 camps where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated and incarcerated after the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to information provided by Karen Harper, a Long Beach Historical Society board member, in an email.

Harper wrote a book about Kimi Sugiyama, who was an influential member of Long Beach’s Japanese American community.

After the war, the family lived in Pasadena for one year before retuing to Long Beach. Raymond’s father died a year or two after, leaving Kimi to raise the children on her own, Harper said.

Raymond Sugiyama attended Poly High School where he played football and ran track, Harper said. He served as student body president and was voted most likely to succeed when he graduated. He later attended Cal State Long Beach where he continued to run track.

A distinguished career

Sugiyama served in the U.S. Army from September 1957 to July 1959 as a dental technician, Sharon Sugiyama said.

After serving, he attended dental school at Case Weste Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and inteed with the U.S. Public Health Service in Staten Island before transferring to U.S. Coast Guard mobile unit in Califoia, according to a biography section on the website of his former orthodontic practice. He graduated from Loma Linda University’s orthodontic program in 1968.

Until recently, Sugiyama taught orthodontics at Loma Linda University, said Dr. Stephen Kim, who took over Sugiyama’s practice in Los Alamitos five years ago.

Among Sugiyama’s greatest contributions to orthodontics was developing a special set of braces, known as the Sugiyama Evidence-Based Asian Prescription, that is better suited to the tooth anatomy of people of Asian descent, Kim said. Sugiyama traveled the world, often at his own expense, teaching and lecturing on his research.

“He’s been a mentor to a lot of people,” Kim said. “He used his free time by serving orthodontics around the world. He wanted to advance the knowledge base. He found joy in making other people better than himself.”

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Remembering a life

Raymond Sugiyama is survived by his wife, Sharon Sugiyama; sons, Darren (Emilia) and Brandon Sugiyama; grandson, Estevan Sugiyama; sisters-in-law, Waka Sugiyama, Marsha (John Wills) Shelbey and Kathlyn Ninomiya and many nieces, nephews and other relatives, according to an obituary posted by the Kubota Nikkei Mortuary in Los Angeles.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. May 23 at Grace First Presbyterian Church, 3955 N. Studebaker Road in Long Beach. There will be a dier reception following the service at the Sheraton 12725 Center Court Drive in Cerritos.