Andrew Cheng

1967 - 2025

Andrew Cheng
03/20/1967 - 08/08/2025
Andrew Yuan-Sung Cheng-beloved Superior Court Judge, husband, and father-passed away on August 8, 2025 in San Francisco, California from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 58.
Judge Cheng was born on March 20, 1967, in Ann Arbor, Michigan to parents Chu-Yuan Cheng and Alice Hua L. Cheng. He grew up in Muncie, Indiana, where he attended Muncie Northside High School and eventually became a nationally-ranked debater. As the valedictorian of his high school class, he received the Storer Scholarship to attend Columbia University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in history in 1989. He then received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1992, after which he began his law career as an associate at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro.
He met his wife, Yvonne-a Bay Area native and 6th-generation Californian-on an airplane headed toward San Francisco. They two were married in 1993. After returning to Indiana for a two-year clerkship with the U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker, Judge Cheng relocated permanently to the San Francisco Bay Area.
He soon gravitated toward the public sector and began working at the San Francisco City Attorney's office in 1997. As a city attorney, he was recognized for ground-breaking litigation against the tobacco industry. In 2003, he was appointed as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California and eventually became deputy chief of the civil division in 2006.
In September 2009, Judge Cheng was one of five people appointed for the San Francisco bench by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Aside from his work as a judge, Judge Cheng also taught at Berkeley Law School and U.C. Law San Francisco as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy. He was an active member of the Asian American Bar Association and the Bar Association of San Francisco. He also served the community as an elder at Old First Presbyterian Church and remained an active member of the congregation.
In his free time, he enjoyed competing in chess tournaments at the Mechanics' Institute, playing league tennis at Davie Tennis Stadium in Oakland, reading books, and playing the piano.
Judge Cheng is survived by his wife Yvonne and children Samuel, Joshua, and Annie (Piedmont, CA); his mother Alice and sister Anita (Bloomington, IL); along with eight nieces and nephews.
There will be a celebration of his life on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 12:30pm at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.