Former Wrestler, Benihana Founder, Dies At 69

New York, NY (AHN) - Rocky Aoki, a former wrestler who founded the restaurant chain Benihana, died here Thursday night.

Cause of death was not given, but the 69-year-old Aoki has said publicly that he suffered from diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver, as well as hepatitis C that he said he contracted from a blood transfusion.

Aoki was a wrestler on the 1960 Japanese Olympics team, but was unable to compete because he was over the weight limit. He moved to New York that fall and four years later opened his first Benihana with $10,000 he made selling ice cream out of a truck.

Today, there are about 90 Benihanas around the world, either owned by the company or franchised. Aoki resigned from the company in 1998, but stayed on as a consultant earning $500,000 a year.

He was born Hiraoki Aoki in Tokyo in 1938 and changed his name to Rocky after moving to the U.S. In Japan, his parents ran a coffee shop named after a red flower called a benihana.