Tyrone W. Aquino, age 72 (Millbrae) passed peacefully on January 27, 2021, at Kaiser in South San Francisco.

He is survived by his two children Jason (Lorna) Aquino and Mignon (Michael) Barton, four grandchildren Andrew Barton, Darren Barton, Tre Aquino, and Aaron Aquino, former spouse Cecily D. Matawaran, companion Darlene Smith-Johnson, and many loving nieces, nephews, extended family, and friends.

He is reunited in paradise with his parents Gregorio & Christine Aquino, brothers George, Errol, and Randy Aquino, and sister Jenny Okamura.

Originally born in Honolulu, Hawaii… Tyrone and his brother Errol were known throughout the Islands as “The Statehood Boys” for their iconic 1959 photograph depicting two young paperboys, reporting Hawaii’s admission into the Union, as the 50^th State.

In the early 1960s, the entire Aquino Family relocated to San Francisco, in order to pursue new opportunities as American citizens. He attended San Francisco’s Polytechnic High School (Class of 1966) where he played football and was an All-City athlete in track & field.

He studied Culinary Arts at San Francisco City College and became an accomplished chef, working for prestigious San Francisco restaurants such as “Alexis” and “La Potiniere”. In 1977, he became the owner-chef of “Rue Lepic”, a highly successful restaurant located on Nob Hill. After selling that business in the late 1980s, he later returned to the food and beverage industry, working with best friend and partner Gilbert Milan, owner of Sedona Catering. He was most recently  employed as a transporter with Hertz, where he was very fond of his co-workers.

Tyrone was a very personable; positive individual who made friends everywhere he went. He enjoyed music, dancing, playing the congo drums, cooking, watching sports and movies, playing golf, attending the horse races, playing poker recreationally and socializing at Lucky Chances Casino.

A “Celebration Of Life” will be held virtually SATURDAY, MARCH 13TH 10:00am-11:30am PST. A private interment will be held for the family at a time and place TBD. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made on behalf of Tyrone to the “SF New Deal”, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting San Francisco restaurants stay afloat and feeding people in need, during the Covid-19 crisis.