Frank Hsu

1938 - 2017

1938 ~ 2017
Frank Chih-I Hsu, 78, died February 22, 2017, at his home in Henderson, NV, of complications from kidney disease. A resident of Sandy and Holladay from 1965 to 1988, Frank was chief financial officer of JB's Big Boy restaurants of Salt Lake City in the 1970s and 80s and, later, controller and part-owner of restaurants in southern California.
Frank was born on June 29, 1938, in Shanghai, and grew up in wartime Chongqing, China, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He graduated from National Taiwan University in Taipei in 1962 and earned an MBA from the University of Utah in 1981. Frank and Leslie Liu-Chin, each the elder child of school principals, met as teenagers and wed Aug. 4, 1958, in Kaohsiung. She was the love of his life, and they were married 58 years.
They came to the United States in 1965 to study at the University of Utah, became U.S. citizens in 1974, and Frank in 1979 helped then-mayor Ted Wilson initiate Salt Lake City's sister-city relationship with Keelung, Taiwan.
A Certified Public Accountant, Frank worked with the Main Lafrentz & Co. accounting firm, then helped JB's Big Boy grow at its peak to more than 110 restaurants in 16 states, mostly in the West.
Frank was a pioneer and the patriarch of his family. He loved them, University of Utah sports, American popular music of his youth, ideas new and old, and seeing the United States and the world at Leslie's side. For several years, they hosted Thanksgiving dinner for new Chinese students at the university. He and Leslie moved to San Gabriel, CA, in 1988, and retired to Nevada in 2008.
Survivors include his wife; daughter Vivian (Donovan) Figueira of Arcadia, CA; sons James (Wendy) Hsu of Henderson, NV, and Spencer (Lori) Hsu of Washington, DC; five grandchildren; and sister, Julie Chih-Ming Chang of Memphis, TN.
Donations in Frank's memory may be made to PKD Foundation, pkdcure.org/tribute. A funeral will be held Monday, February 27, 2017, at 11 a.m. at Palm Eastern Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave., Las Vegas, NV. Private burial will follow at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA.