John H.S. Lee's Obituary
John H. S. Lee, aged 78, of Belmont, CA died at home surrounded by his family on Tuesday night, June 13, 2017. He was receiving hospice at home for liver failure.He was born March 24, 1939 in Paju, South Korea, to Jae-Eun (F) and Myo-Sup (M) Lee. He was the first born of 5 children. He received his education in Korea and attended two years of college at Kookmin University. On May 7, 1970, he married Cecilia H. J. Chun in Seoul, Korea.As a youth John was a great tennis player. He received first place medal for tennis in 1959 for a national sports competition in Korea. He then went on to coach the national South Korean Tennis Team.John worked for Philco-Ford in Da Nang, Vietnam in the late 60’s during the Vietnam War. After learning some English from the American soldiers, he became determined to immigrate to America. When he returned to Korea, he married Cecilia and had their first child (daughter Susan). The family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1973. Their second child (daughter Janet) was born soon after arriving in the U.S.During the 1980’s when Korea was under an oppressive regime, John organized marches and fundraised for the South Korean democracy movement in Philadelphia. He helped raise money to give relief and aid to political prisoners who were tortured and sometimes killed. John helped to organize peaceful marches to free Kim Dae-Jung from political imprisonment. Kim Dae-Jung would later become President of the Republic of Korea and win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. John met Kim Dae-Jung and received thanks for his efforts. John served as a member of The National Unification Advisory Council for the Republic of Korea in 2007.John was a successful small business owner in Philadelphia. He owned several gas stations and dry cleaners between the late 1970’s through his retirement in 2012. He and his wife moved to Belmont, CA in 2012 to live with his eldest daughter and her family. John passed peacefully surrounded by family. He was loved especially by his only grand-daughter, Phoebe.John is survived by his wife, Cecilia, his two daughters, Susan (husband Sam) and Janet (partner Eric), and three grandchildren, Jack, Tyler and Phoebe.John’s ashes will be scattered at Skylawn Memorial Park in late July so family can travel from Korea to attend.
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