“he could be stern too,” zahalan said, recalling a difficult time when his home life was in turmoil and his school work suffered.
“i always had high grades, but mr. taguchi noticed me slipping and he pulled me aside and said, ‘george, if you’re not going to give it your all, tell me now. i know you’re going through a lot, but i have faith in you. do not let outside things impact you. it’s only going to make you feel worse and be more damaging to your self confidence.'”
“maybe one day i can think of him without crying. he saved my life,” wrote another former student on the mr. taguchi fan club facebook page, which was created after taguchi’s retirement 17 years ago and is still going strong. “brilliant, funny, kind, generous, astute, empathetic, ethical, and the most adventurous teacher i’ve ever had. a world without mr. taguchi is duller, sadder, and significantly less wondrous.”
roger taguchi was born nov. 28, 1945, in winnipeg. his father, jack taguchi, from steveston, b.c., had narrowly avoided being interned during the second world war with other japanese-canadians. the reason? he was one of only a handful of chicken sexers and spent the war plying his unusual skill on a manitoba farm.
roger, the eldest of four children, studied science at mcmaster university before beginning a phd at the university of toronto with future nobel prize winner, john polanyi. after a disagreement at the university, however, taguchi walked away from academia to become a teacher.