Toshiaki Ogasawara, honorary chairman and former publisher of The Japan Times, died of heart failure at a hospital in Newport Beach, California, last Wednesday. He was 85.

Ogasawara, who had been undergoing medical treatment in the United States, is also the founder of Nifco Inc., which is Japan's premier manufacturer of plastic parts and components for automobile and home electronic appliance makers. Nifco is the parent company of The Japan Times.

After becoming a major investor in the company, Ogasawara became the newspaper's president in 1983 and its chairman in 1985, leading Japan's only independent English newspaper to expand its readership both in Japan and abroad and to fulfill its mission to promote international understanding. He remained in this role until becoming honorary chairman earlier this year.