Akiko Nagashima, the wife of former Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima, died Tuesday of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital. She was 64.
Nagashima, who spoke several languages, including French and English, met the legendary Giants slugger while working on a project related to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They married in January 1965.
She is survived by her husband and four children, including former pro baseball player Kazushige Nagashima.
In 2002, she was selected as a spokeswoman for a government program to deal with the effects of global warming. She was instrumental in supporting her husband after he suffered a stroke in March 2004.