Through his work as a court interpreter, his devotion to his tae kwon do students and his activism for new immigrants, Man Ho Hong became a respected leader in Chicago’s Korean community.
He left South Korea in 1957 and was among the first wave of Korean immigrants to enter the U.S. He was also one of the earliest members of the American Tae Kwon Do Association.
Once here, he quickly gained a reputation for his mastery of martial arts, teaching self-defense skills and hand-to-hand combat to service members at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago.
In the 1960s, he opened the Yong San Judo & Karate School in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, one of the first Korean martial arts schools in the U.S. The school’s name paid homage to his home in the “dragon hill” district of Seoul.
As more Koreans immigrated to Chicago, they repeatedly turned to Mr. Hong for counsel and legal advice. His services were so sought after that he became the Korean court interpreter for federal court and Circuit Court of Cook and Lake counties.
“Since he was one of the first Koreans to come here, he was able to help many families reunite,” said his daughter Carolyn Evans. “He was always invincible to me. Untouchable, stoic, fearless, unstoppable, determined and disciplined.”
Mr. Hong, 75, died of lung cancer Saturday, Jan. 29, in his Arlington Heights home, his family said.
He was born in 1935 in what is now South Korea. His family said he shared little of his past with them because of painful memories of the Korean War.
“I think there were a lot of hardships in his life, so he preferred to focus on his new life in the U.S.,” his daughter said.
After being sponsored by a Rotary Club in Georgia, Mr. Hong immigrated to study at Georgia Tech in 1957 with a commitment to teach judo. A few years later, he moved to Illinois and studied at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial design.
Mr. Hong worked for Zenith as an industrial engineer, helping design cabinetry for stereo systems. As a side business, he opened the Young San Judo & Karate School, teaching martial arts in the evenings and weekends.
As the school became successful, he quit his engineer’s job and focused on the school.
In 1975, he and his family moved Wheeling and he opened a second school in nearby Palatine.
His first marriage ended in divorce. In 1989, he remarried Myong Kim.
In the 1980s, Mr. Hong met a young law school graduate, Warren H. Appel, who was one of his students and they teamed up to open a law office to assist the Korean community.
Seeing the great need for legal assistance, he left his martial arts school and started working full-time at the law office and helping Korean immigrants navigate the courts.
He fell in love with the law and briefly attended law school. But he found he could be successful through his work with attorneys.
He eventually became an official Korean-language interpreter for the federal court and Circuit Courts of Cook and Lake counties. With his Korean language skill and intimate knowledge of the law, he became a much sough-after interpreter in the U.S. legal system and even abroad
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Hong is survived by four sons, Marshall, Mark, Max and Matt; another daughter, Linda Hong; and two grandchildren.
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Visitation will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, with services at 7:30 p.m., in Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 185 E. Northwest Highway in Palatine. A funeral is set for 10 a.m. Friday in the funeral home.