ForeverMissed
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Bill Ku, portrait from Minoru Yamasaki and Associates

"This memorial website was created in memory of our beloved father,  Bill Ku, 93, born on April 11, 1922 and passed away on June 8, 2015.  We invite you to write a note, share  a memory or your thoughts about Bill.  We would love to hear from you.  With gratitude,  the Ku and Nagase family"

Tributes

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Gordon Reeve
September 11, 2023
September 11, 2023
While I was a student at Cranbrook Bill introduced himself to me and expressed interest in buying a small aluminum and bronze sculpture, the first I ever sold, I had just completed. I remember visiting him in his home and garden. His interest then in my work has always touched me deeply throughout the many years making sculpture and always for architectural context. He was such a warm and generous man to me and I remember him in every sculpture I make even now, 2023 at age 77  thank you Bill.
Gordon Reeve, sculptor
Ralph Insinger
June 9, 2019
June 9, 2019
During the 15 years that I worked with Bill in the MYA architectural office, regardless of little ups and downs, he was the stable member of the firm that Yama relied on to maintain progress on the design of the buildings we were commissioned to do. He didn't let personal issues among the project teams distract him from the work that had to be done. I remain impressed by his genuine professionalism...tried and true, always available to mentor younger staff members. He has my gratitude.
Ralph Insinger
April 11, 2018
April 11, 2018
Every year, over the years, I've forgotten Bill Ku's birth date. But I have never forgotten Bill. He was my mentor and friend, always helpful during the 15 years I worked with him. He was warm-hearted and level-headed, probably the most dignified of the partners at the Yamasaki architectural office. I truly admired him.
Barbara Ruth
June 8, 2017
June 8, 2017
My husband and I enjoy Bill's design every day and speak of him often. A great man
Barbara Ruth
June 8, 2016
June 8, 2016
Hard to believe this great man has been gone one year, he will be remembered forever.
Barbara Ruth
June 8, 2016
June 8, 2016
Hard to believe this great man has been gone one year, he will be remembered forever.
Barbara Ruth
September 19, 2015
September 19, 2015
Bill designed our home in Chelsea in 1997, he was a gifted and brilliant artist and a pleasure to work with. Because of him our home is unique and special. Glad his end was so peaceful.
wong henry
July 22, 2015
July 22, 2015
We just learned about Bill's passing and want to express our sincerest condolences. I met Bill when he came to Hawaii as the President of Yamasaki Associates, which was commissioned to design the City Financial Tower. Our friendship continued even after its completion and whenever he and Angela came to Honolulu, my wife Laurie and I would have dinner together. He was devoted to Angela and catered to her every need, especially after her illness. Bill and I continued to meet for coffee up to last year. I appreciated and enjoyed listening to him talk about the designs of his international buildings and he took joy in sharing his vast experiences. He will be missed. 
Sincerely, Hank Wong
margo williams downes
July 8, 2015
July 8, 2015
Bill was the architect for my parents home and a great friend to them. He will be missed and fondly remembered by our whole family.
Ralph Insinger
June 29, 2015
June 29, 2015
It was my privilege to meet and work with Bill at the Yamasaki office for 15 years. He was truly gracious and kind. After my graduation from Washington Univ in St. Louis, I met him for the first time in the summer of 1963, when I stopped at the Yamasaki office for a tour, to see the work being done on the design of the World Trade Center. Bill was Director of Design and generously invited me in and showed me around, giving generously of his time. As I thanked him and was about to leave, Bill sat me down and asked if I would like to work there. I told him I had no portfolio of my work to show, but he noted that he had confidence from our conversation that I could perform. I told him I would think about it, and then proceeded to return to my home near St. Louis. When I arrived home my father told me that "Mr. Ku had called and wanted to know if I would come to work with him." So I decided to go to work there. I never regretted that because Bill was a good mentor and did a lot to place me on the good projects. He always supported me for promotions, to the point that I ended up as a Senior Associate, working a lot with Yamasaki himself. During hectic times, or contentious periods, Bill was like a rock, ever calm and stable, like he knew "this storm will pass!" He was generous with advice and looking after my interests all the years I was working with him. My wife Hiroko (who also worked at Yama's office) and I are retired now and live a comfortable life, and I give Bill some credit for that. A few years ago I wrote to Bill in Ann Arbor to tell him how much we appreciated the consideration he gave us during our younger years. He called me on the phone to thank me and we talked a bit, still the warm and friendly person we had always known. I'm glad I got in touch with him to thank him and let him know how important he was in our lives. He has meant a lot to us, and we want his family to know how kind and thoughtful he was. Such a special person, and we loved him for it. Our condolence to all the extended members of his family for their loss.
Charles Witke
June 25, 2015
June 25, 2015
Bill and Angela Ku were our neighbors in Ann Arbor. Both were generous with their support and advice for a major interior renovation of our condominium building. Later Bill and I often had lunch out together, which were times for hearing much about his work and many friendships here and abroad. He was invariably a cheerful companion and generous friend who will be missed.--Aileen Gatten and Charles Witke
Patricia Breitmeyer
June 23, 2015
June 23, 2015
Mr Ku was kind and generous and welcomed us into his home when we were kids, oblivious as we may have been at the time to his life and experiences, I hope I will know him still better through his wonderful family. He will be greatly missed.
Paula Brown-Gray
June 21, 2015
June 21, 2015
Bill will be missed by Joyce Brown, Paula and David Gray. 
We enjoyed our times together remembering the past and present.

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Recent Tributes
Gordon Reeve
September 11, 2023
September 11, 2023
While I was a student at Cranbrook Bill introduced himself to me and expressed interest in buying a small aluminum and bronze sculpture, the first I ever sold, I had just completed. I remember visiting him in his home and garden. His interest then in my work has always touched me deeply throughout the many years making sculpture and always for architectural context. He was such a warm and generous man to me and I remember him in every sculpture I make even now, 2023 at age 77  thank you Bill.
Gordon Reeve, sculptor
Ralph Insinger
June 9, 2019
June 9, 2019
During the 15 years that I worked with Bill in the MYA architectural office, regardless of little ups and downs, he was the stable member of the firm that Yama relied on to maintain progress on the design of the buildings we were commissioned to do. He didn't let personal issues among the project teams distract him from the work that had to be done. I remain impressed by his genuine professionalism...tried and true, always available to mentor younger staff members. He has my gratitude.
Ralph Insinger
April 11, 2018
April 11, 2018
Every year, over the years, I've forgotten Bill Ku's birth date. But I have never forgotten Bill. He was my mentor and friend, always helpful during the 15 years I worked with him. He was warm-hearted and level-headed, probably the most dignified of the partners at the Yamasaki architectural office. I truly admired him.
View all 13 tributes
Gallery
Bill & Angela in 1949 at Michigan
Bill Ku at Minoru Yamasaki and Associates in 1963. Thank you to Osep Sarafian for sharing this great photo.
Peace rose from our garden
Mom and Dad's resting place, Oahu
Grandpa is always with us. His light will always illuminate the sky.
The dogs at Pt. Reyes, Pacific Ocean
Bodhi and Daisy
Spiral by Yuki
Bill and Angela, Oahu
View all 16 items
Recent stories

Missing My Life-long Friends

July 11, 2015
by Kan Chen

Bill Ku and I were schoolmates at Cornell in 1948-9. He was a graduate student in Architecture while I was an undergraduate in the junior year. We became instant friends after we met. I got a new driver license shortly after I threw away my learner's permit; and Bill had driven in Shanghai for years but had no driver license yet in the US. We decided to travel together to Detroit where used cars were supposed to be great. Without much experience in buying autos in the US, Bill purchased a coupe and we drove together from Detroit to New York. The coupe turned out to be a lemon. With broken piston rings, it burned almost as much oil as gasoline during our long journey. I guess that's the kind of things young people would do in any country.

Sometime after the coupe was fixed, we drove together to see Angela (Chow), a family friend of mine, to spend the Spring Weekend together at Keuka College, not far from Cornell. After a 4-month wirlwind romance, Bill and Amgela got married and I turned out to be the match maker. I was glad that they had a long and happy marriage. The picture I entered was their photo in 1949 at Michigan, where they were destined to settle later. We visited each other frequenty while we were together at MIT in Boston and later in Michigan where I became a professor in Ann Arbor while Bill had a long successful career at Yamasaki. Now you can understand why my wife Lillian and I miss them so much as life-long friends.

Sunday was Dad's day

June 21, 2015
by Althea Ku

My Dad was a very busy man. When he could on Sundays, he would take my sister and I out to spend some time together. We would go to the car wash then breakfast. I think of those times with great fondness--my strong Dad with his two little girls.



The poem I read at Dad's service

June 21, 2015
by Althea Ku

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away to the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name  Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect. Without a trace of shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you. For an interval. Somewhere very near. Just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past, nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will be together.

Henry Scott Holland

I love you Dad.



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