[icerrelmCam]

This is probably not that relevant to most people here but as I was a member of the Aikikai in Victoria at one time and knew of Sugano shihan, I thought I would post this. The last time I saw him train was quite a few years ago but I remember seeing him officiate at a shochugeiko in Clifton Hill. The thing I most noticed about him was his enormous smile. What I didn't notice was that he had only one leg. I was later told that it had been recently amputated. He must have been training with a prosthesis but I couldn't tell, either by his demeanor or his movement. Aikido has lost one of its greatest teachers and Australian aikido in particular has lost an important mentor.

Sugano passed away after a long illness at his home in New York. Short bio here. b

[PypeDeft]

There's nothing to describe how sad this is, except for the basic response "Wow, that really really really sucks ". My condolences.