WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Dr. Robert Yasui, who served as Lycoming College's athletic physician and surgeon for 36 years, passed away on Monday, Aug. 20, in Philadelphia.
 
Yasui always had a busy plate, serving for most of his career as a doctor in Williamsport and as the surgeon and athletic physician for Lycoming College, the Little League World Series and the Williamsport Area school district. For his efforts with the Warrior student-athletes, Yasui was the first non-athlete or coach to be inducted into the College's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
 
“Bob was a kind, hard-working, devoted, giving and forgiving person,” Lycoming President James E. Douthat said. “He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered. “
 
Yasui, the husband of trustee emeritus Phyllis Yasui, was an active member of both the College and Williamsport communities for decades. He was awarded an honorary degree by Lycoming in 1988 and was honored in 1995 by the Lycoming Alumni Association with the Dale V. Bower Award in recognition of his years of volunteer service to the College. He also held numerous lay leadership positions at the Pine Street United Methodist. 
 
“He was not only a wonderful doctor, but a wonderful man,” former Lycoming College director of athletics and head football coach Frank Girardi said. “He was a big part of Lycoming athletics as the team doctor for so many years and he was a great friend.”
 
Among the many honors he attained throughout his distinguished career, Yasui was the chairman of the Department of Surgery at Williamsport Hospital, a surgeon diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and served as the president of the Lycoming College Medical Society. Yasui was also inducted into the West Branch Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
 
“He was one of the most caring, loving guys,” Lycoming College assistant head football coach Steve Wiser said. “He was on 24-hour call. He and his wife were great supporters of the Lycoming athletic program. He was a great individual and will be missed. When there was an emergency, he would come to your house and you just don't see many doctors like that anymore. He was special.”
 
Yasui's parents emigrated from Japan early in the 20th century and settled in Hood River, Ore., where his father was a successful orchardist and owner of a general store. The lives of his family members changed dramatically shortly after Dec. 7, 1941. They were forcibly removed from their home and stripped of their livelihoods and much of their belongings. Yasui's father was imprisoned throughout the war and his mother and siblings were forced to live in an internment camp in California. After the war, his father was declared innocent of all charges.
 
Yasui was a pre-med student at the University of Oregon when the internment order was issued by President Roosevelt.  Knowing he, too, would soon be interned, Yasui traveled incognito across the country to Wisconsin, where the governor had announced he would not obey the federal order. After graduation from the University of Wisconsin, Yasui enrolled in Temple Medical School and later completed his residency in Williamsport, where he and Phyllis met.
 
In 2008, the University of Oregon awarded Yasui an honorary degree, along with others who had been expelled in 1942 solely because of their Japanese heritage.
 
While Yasui was deeply impacted and saddened by the treatment of his family during the Second World War, he was never bitter. He spoke and wrote extensively of his experiences during those years. In 1993 Random House published Stubborn Twig, Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family, a biographical history of Yasui's parents, their children and grandchildren. It was written by a professor at the University of Oregon.

Services are being arranged and will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Phyllis Yasui Endowed Scholarship at Lycoming College: Lycoming College Gift Specialist, Memo: Phyllis L. Yasui Scholarship, Campus Box 165, 700 College Place, Williamsport, PA 17701.

Contributions may also be made directly to Pine Street United Methodist Church.