Iam Kumara

Iam Kumara (Peter Lucas) was born in Los Angeles, California in August 1942 to George and Rose Lucas. The second oldest of six siblings, his childhood memories included his mother often lamenting that when she made cookies the kids ate them too quickly (a story that always ended with him saying, “what did she expect, she had six children!”). He graduated from Downey High School—where he played football, baseball, and ran track—although he was already in the Marine Corps when graduation happened in 1960. He served in Okinawa before his final post at the naval base in Bremerton, Washington where he was assigned to the naval brig. When his time in the Corps was over, he returned to California attending Mt. San Antonio College and graduating from Pacific Oaks College. He held several jobs over his lifetime, most in the food industry, security, and substitute teaching. The jobs trained him to back into every parking space and he was the king of parallel parking, often doing so at a speed which frightened his passengers.
His great passion was martial arts having studied Kenpo karate while on Okinawa and then continuing his studies under Ed Parker (famed bodyguard of Elvis Presley), Escrima under Pete Jacobs, and knife fighting from Luis Solis. He ran his own karate studio for several years—with the help of his now ex-wife, Karen—and went on to create his own martial arts system which blended his Kenpo training with his military experience which he called CombaKenpo. With another of Ed’s students, he founded the American Kick Boxing Association, wrote the rules for the sport, and served as its Public Relations representative. In the last few months of his life, he was finally able to assemble some of his martial arts writing into books that he published on Amazon.
A connoisseur of dad jokes, he never failed to have a new one to share with his daughters. He was known to sing in the morning and while driving in the car (and if a Jerry Lee Lewis song came on the radio, he would play piano on the dashboard). He was a wonderful and hilarious storyteller—when he was finished your stomach hurt from laughing so hard. He loved to go for long day trips on the weekends which were usually organized around food. If you got in the car with him on a Saturday morning, you learned to bring a jacket, snacks, and something to keep you occupied because you wouldn’t be home before dark but would come home having seen cool stuff and eaten something delicious. Some of his favorite memories were of vacations taken with his family. Ever the Marine, often such trips involved a long hike that the family referred to as a “forced march.”
He loved Elvis and was excited when he moved to Arkansas with his daughter, Wendy, to be able to visit Graceland several times. Watching several cherished Christmas movies was a required activity every holiday season. Any movie where monster animals (particularly sharks) ate people was beloved, although he would be upset if someone wasn’t eaten in the first ten minutes; a sure tip off that the movie was not going to be good. He loved old westerns (the Grit channel was on continually at the house) and will be unhappy to never know how this season of Yellowstone will end. If he had a good cigar, good food, a movie he loved, and his family he was happy.
He is survived by his two daughters, Wendy and Robin, and her two sons, Aidan and Kyan, along with his five siblings. On November 25, after four years of dialysis the comorbidities overcame him and he left this world, less vibrant for his passing. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Kidney Project (pharm.ucsf.edu) which is working on a bioartificial kidney whose research he had hoped would come to fruition in time to help him.