Author-advocate sought understanding, acceptance between communities.
By P.C. Staff
Marsha Aizumi, whose life’s mission became one of turning “shame, grief and fear” into understanding, acceptance and support of individuals dealing with sexual and gender identity issues, died Dec. 18, 2025, in Duarte, Calif., from an infection that followed stem cell treatment to counteract the rare form of leukemia she was diagnosed with last March. She was 78.
Marsha Aizumi
Aizumi penned the long-running Pacific Citizen column “A Mother’s Take,” in which she documented her journey as a speaker, organizer and leader of groups and events in support of those in the LGBTQIA+ and transgender communities — especially within the Asian American and Asian community context — and their interfamilial relationships, and mused over interactions with people she encountered along that path. (To read the archive of her columns, visit tinyurl.com/3rr5ahp5.)
With her son, Aidan Aizumi, she also co-authored the memoir “Two Spirits, One Heart: A Mother, Her Transgender Son, and Their Journey to Love and Acceptance.” Marsha Aizumi in 2014 founded Okaeri, a Nikkei LGBTQ+ community organization that in November 2025 became a program of the Little Tokyo Service Center. In a statement to the LTSC, Aidan Aizumi said, “My mom lived her life rooted in love, advocacy, and deep care for others. She touched countless lives through her kindness and courage, and her legacy will continue through the people she inspired. Thank you for the outpouring of love and support during this time.”
Marsha and Aidan Aizumi display the book they co-wrote.
JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs said, “JANM is deeply saddened by the loss of Marsha Aizumi. … Her legacy of connection and inclusivity will continue to inspire future generations.”
Aizumi was born in Cleveland, Ohio, after her parents were released from incarceration in an American concentration camp for Japanese Americans. The family returned to California when she was 5, settling in Temple City, Calif. Years later, after meeting and marrying her husband, Robert T. Aizumi, they decided to start a family. Due to difficulties with conception, they would adopt a daughter from Japan, and later, a son, Stefen.
It was their first child’s eventual challenges with sexual and gender identity that would lead her to come out as a lesbian and then go on a journey to become a male named Aidan. This, in turn, reoriented Aizumi on a life- and priority-altering path of her own. It would also affect Robert Aizumi. “It kind of blew my mind, and it took me time to understand what was happening,” he told Pacific Citizen. He praised his late wife, saying, “Her heart was open to everybody. She goes around and creates new friends. It was amazing to me.”
In addition to being survived by her husband, Robert, and Aiden and his wife, Mary, Marsha is also survived by son, Stefan, and his girlfriend, and her brother, Paul Ogino, and his wife, Arlene. She was predeceased by her brother, Martin Ogino.