Wayne Ken Horiuchi
July 10, 1952-July 9, 2025
Palo Alto, California

Wayne Ken Horiuchi, age 72, of Palo Alto, passed away peacefully on July 9, 2025, surrounded by family.

Born on July 10, 1952 in Osaka, Japan, Wayne was the son of Kenji and Fumiko Horiuchi. At the age of six, Wayne and his family immigrated to the U.S., moving to Marin County, California, where Wayne grew up.

A natural athlete, Wayne excelled at every sport he tried. He was on skis at the age of five, played shortstop in little league baseball, and spent summers taking tennis classes. He excelled at tennis. Years later, at Stanford University, he played with fellow student Sally Ride, who played against male opponents to improve her game.

In high school Wayne faced a dilemma: should he join the tennis team, or, given his reputation for speed, go for Track and Cross Country? Redwood High School’s Coach Bashum challenged Wayne to a tennis match, and Wayne agreed that if he won, he could choose his sport, but if Coach Bashum won, then the Coach would pick for him. Wayne won the tennis match, and decided to go ahead and run with the Track and Cross Country teams.

Wayne went on to break many records at Redwood High School. When the family moved to Topeka, Kansas, Wayne broke records there, too, as evidenced by the many newspaper articles about him. Wayne continued to run as an adult, and completed many 10K, half marathon, and marathon runs including the Boston Marathon. His fastest marathon time was 2:41, which places him in the top 10-15% of runners.

Wayne had many other interests, including cinema, guitar, pottery, and good restaurants of all kinds. He was a skilled ceramic artist, creating unique stone and porcelain ware under the name “Bishop Lane Pottery.” An admirer of Japanese brush painting, Wayne often decorated his pots with brush-painted birds, bunnies, bamboo, and fish.

Wayne attended Stanford University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1974. He went on to establish a respected and successful appraisal business, working with many estate attorneys in California.

Later in life Wayne took up fly fishing. After his first fishing trip Wayne was hooked on the sport. A member of the Palo Alto Fly Fishing club (PAFF), he fished in rivers all over Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Canada, Argentina, and remote Kiritimati (Christmas Island). Wayne was most adept at fooling the fish and almost always caught the big ones. But his sport was strictly catch-and-release, so he never brought any fish home. His mother was mystified by this.

Even after his diagnosis with a neurological disorder, Wayne tried to be as active as possible. He continued to play pickleball once or twice a week, and would runs laps around the streets near his home. When it became necessary for him to use a walker, he obtained a high tech one and took it for a spin around the Baylands, ran/walked a 5K loop near the Palo Alto airport, and ran/walked laps on the Stanford track.

Wayne is survived by his wife of 43 years, Vera Horiuchi, daughter and son-in-law Meredith Hiltbrand and Rory Hiltbrand, daughter Naomi Horiuchi and son-in-law Josh D. Graves, grandson Damien Graves, grandson Aiden Graves, and sister and brother-in-law, Gail and Gary Chapline. He was preceded in death by his parents.

In life, Wayne was known best for his kindness and good humored nature. He will be dearly missed by his family and his many, many friends.

He walked gently through this world.

Tags: business, sports