Taketo Murata, the son of Kiyoshi and Matsue Murata, was born in Vancouver, BC on September 21st. 1937. The family was evacuated from Vancouver into the BC interior in early 1942, along with other Japanese-Canadians. The Murata's moved to Minto City, an abandoned mining town, which is north of Pemberton, which in turn is northwest of Whistler. In 1944 they relocated to Croydon, Quebec which was on the south shore of Montreal, near Greenfield Park.

Taketo went to the local elementary school in Croydon (which is now part of St. Hubert and no longer exists under its original name) from 1944 until 1949 when he transferred to the old Chambly County High School in Grade 7. He graduated from the old (81 Green St.) CCHS in 1954.

He then enrolled at McGill University in the Science program in 1954. Taketo graduated in 1958 with a B.Sc., and with First Class Honours in Psychology. He won the Hiram Mills Gold Medal for the highest standing amongst those taking Honours in the biological sciences.

Taketo then attended Yale University, intending to be a university professor, and earned an M.S. in Experimental Psychology in 1960. However, he found the program to be to confining, with its emphasis on specialization, and decided to switch subjects, thereby gaining an M.A. in Sociology in 1962. At this time he concluded the academic grind of “publishing or perishing” was not to his liking, especially when most of the academic output in these fields consisted of inconsequential papers.

He decided to return to Canada and go into the business world. Because of his academic training he started in marketing research: first with Leo Burnett, a major American-based advertising agency with clients such as Procter & Gamble, Kellogg, Green Giant, All State Insurance, and Pfizer; and then with General Foods (which later merged with Kraft to become Kraft Foods). Taketo joined General Foods in 1965 as Marketing Research Associate and then moved over to marketing as Product Manager. To give him financial experience (Taketo had no prior business administration experience,) General Foods appointed him Controller of the Grocery Division in 1970.

In 1973, Taketo became President of Hunt-Wesson Foods of Canada which at that time had only $5.9 million in sales with products such as Hunt's Tomato Sauce and Hunt's Tomato Paste. He remained in this organization, which went through four company takeovers between 1983 and 1990. He retired as President of ConAgra Grocery Products Company of Canada (the parent company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange). By this time annual sales of the Canadian company totaled more than $350 million and the product line was extended to include Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn, Hunt's Snack Pack Puddings, Hunt's Thick & Rich Pasta Sauces, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Pasta, and Pam Pan Spray.

Taketo was also in charge of ConAgra Grocery Products International between 1990 and 1998, with responsibility for Con Agra's shelf-stable grocery products in all countries except the USA; the company's strategy was to seek acquisitions and joint ventures in all major countries and to expand company's export sales throughout the world, a coverage of over 40 countries.

In 2000, Taketo retired from ConAgra and established a consulting firm, Global Agri-Business Solutions, which has done work for the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and a number of private sector companies. He was a Member of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission (Order-in-Council appointment) which supervised 25 Ontario farmer commodity marketing boards.

He is on the board of directors of several Canadian-owned food manufacturing companies and is an Associate of the George Morris Centre, Canada's Independent Agri-Food Think Tank.

He was President of the Canadian Food Processors Association, and a board member of the Food Institute of Canada, the Canadian Frozen Foods Association, and the Grocery Products Manufacturers of Canada.
Taketo has been a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (UK) since 1991 and a Life Fellow since 2002.

He has also been active in volunteer service, with recent responsibilities such as Vice-Chair and board member of Breakfast for Learning (national feeding program for young school children), President and CEO and board member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Canada's greatest choir with 150 voices), and member of the Executive committee and board of the Glenn Gould Foundation (which honours the memory and carries on the work of Canada's greatest classical pianist).

Taketo and his wife, Vija, live in Thornhill, Ontario. They were married in 1970 and have three children: Alfred, Ted, and Ariana. Alfred is a Senior Vice-President with PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company), the largest fixed-income fund manager in the world; Ted is in financial services; and Ariana is a family physician in British Columbia.

Recent family portrait: left to right: Vija, eldest son Alfred, daughter Ariana, Ted and Taketo

Meeting with some classmates in Montreal, October 2008
In the picture, from left to right, are Viesturs Kalnins, Michael Fulton, David Smith, Taketo Murata, Vija Murata (Taketo's wife} and Carole (Wilcox) Charnutzky.

In 2000, Taketo retired from ConAgra and established a consulting firm, Global Agri-Business Solutions, which has done work for the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and a number of private sector companies. Seen here relaxing with Vija during a break in 2003.