TRUONG D. TRAN

TRAN --Truong Dinh, Vietnamese Businessman and Philanthropist. Tran Dinh Truong was born on January 5, 1932 in Ky-Anh, a town on the north central coast of Vietnam. At the end of 1958, knowing he had to seek a better life for himself, penniless, Mr. Tran fled the north by swimming across the Ben-Hai River, which was the demarcation line between the northern and southern part of the country by the Geneva Accords in 1954. Upon arriving in the south, he was immediately captured and placed in a prison camp for fugitives and deserters by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. While there, Mr. Tran stood out and caught the attention of a visiting priest who was in need of a driver and asked if Tran could drive. As it turned out, Father Khai was a special personal priest to the President, Ngo Dinh Diem and the rest is history. Mr. Tran was a devout Catholic with strong entrepreneurial spirits and a keen business sense; after working two years as a driver for Father Khai and winning over his admiration and respect, Mr. Tran sought a loan from his mentor and began buying and selling army supplies and uniforms. During this time he also met and married Nguyen Kim Sang, a recently crowned Miss Saigon and together they worked and built up a successful business which led them to Hiroshima, Japan in 1967 to buy their first cargo ship the Soe-Maru which later Tran changed the name to Sao Mai. By the early 1970s, their company Vishipco Lines was the largest shipping company in South Vietnam with a fleet of 24 ships. It was in April of 1975 when Mr. Tran fled his home once again during the last days of the fall of Saigon. Mr. Tran and his family were relocated and welcomed along with some other 150,000 Vietnamese refugees into the United States at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. For the second time in his life he was seeking a better way of living and when the family arrived in Times Square in their beat-up station wagon, Tran looked around and declared that, "This is America!" Poor English did not stop him and soon Mr. Tran found a suitable life in real estate with his purchase of the Hotel Opera on West 76th Street bought with the gold the family was carrying on their backs. Tran loved New York City and when the opportunity arose to purchase a second building located in Times Square in 1977, he jumped right on it against his lawyers' wishes. "The Great White Way" became his place of residence as he struggled through the tumultuous years in Times Square before it became the Crossroads of the World. From then on he began to build his real estate portfolio with historical buildings in New York City, Buffalo, New York and the Philadelphia area. Mr. Tran may be remembered and honored most for ordering one of his ships, the Truong Xuan, to carry over 3000 Vietnamese refugees out of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Those refugees eventually reached Hong Kong safely and have made their lives all over the world. In 1984, Tran's answer to the poverty and famine he was witnessing out of Ethiopia was to donate two helicopters for the use of relief and transport of food and medicine to the villages. He also sent heavy construction equipment and trucks to his hometown in Vietnam for road repairs and made yearly contributions to churches and congregations in Vietnam, and all across the United States where large populations of Vietnamese Catholics worship. Mr. Tran also generously donated $2 million dollars of his personal funds to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It was a repayment to show his patriotism to the country that had rescued him and his family. Tran never forgot his humble beginnings both in his birth country and in the country that adopted him and his family. Tran Dinh Truong passed away on May 6, 2012 in his beloved Times Square home. He had suffered a stroke in late 2008 and never fully recovered. For the third and final time in his life, Tran has fled to a better place. He is a great loss to the Vietnamese community worldwide; as for his children, they will always miss the way their father used to sign off on his writings to them while they were away at school - his favorite song by Billy Joel, " I love you 'Just The Way You Are.' " He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Nguyen Kim Sang, and their four children, Teresa Yokoi of Westport, Connecticut and her husband Katsuhiko; Monica Tran of New York City and her husband Paul Carden; Joseph Tran of Dallas, Texas and his wife June Von Hoven; Victoria Tran of New York City and her fiance Brian McConville; his grandchildren Jessica, Jacob, Noah, Luc and Emmi. Family will receive friends on Saturday and Sunday 1-5pm at Frank E. Campbell 1076 Madison Ave. at 81st St. Mass of Christian Burial Monday 10am Holy Cross R.C. Church, 329 West 42nd St.