FOR-A Founder Keizo Kiyohara Dies At 88

Keizo Kiyohara

FOR-A Co. Ltd. today announced that its founder and representative director, Keizo Kiyohara, died on March 7. He was 88 years old.

Kiyohara established FOR-A in 1971. Three years later, he started FOR-A Corp. of America in California. FOR-A, the Japanese company name, means “A Partnership that Grows Together.” The name was chosen by Kiyohara because he believed that with the solutions developed by the company, there was true value in its meaning.

According to the company, Kiyohara prioritized, above all else, listening to the needs of the firm’s global customers. In response to this commitment, he opened the company’s first R&D Center in Sakura City, Chiba (Japan) in 1985 for new product development and to expand FOR-A’s manufacturing facilities. FOR-A exclusively produces more than 400 different products from this state-of-the-art facility and from two R&D Center in Sapporo and Fukuoka City, he opened in 1991 and 2020.

Kiyohara was appointed chairman and representative director of FOR-A in 2011 and founder and representative director in 2022.

His son, Katsuaki Kiyohara, continues in his role as president and representative director of FOR-A Co. Ltd.

“Our founder was committed to maintaining FOR-A as a company that put the needs of its customers first, and one that does so with the utmost integrity,” said Katsuaki Kiyohara. “He will be greatly missed by all of us at FOR-A. He’s had a huge impact on how we at FOR-A conduct ourselves in the business environment. His legacy remains in how we treat each other with respect and dignity. I’m very thankful for the years I got to work alongside him.”