Ping Tom

Infobox Person
name= Ping Tom


caption= Ping Tom
birth_date= birth date|1935|4|15|mf=y
birth_place= Chicago, Illinois
dead=dead
death_date= death date and age|1995|7|7|1935|4|15|mf=y
death_place= Chicago, Illinois
occupation= Businessman
spouse= Valerie Tom

Ping Tom (April 15, 1935 – July 7, 1995) (zh-c|c=譠繼平 ; pinyin: Tān Jìpíng) was a Chinese American businessman and civic leader in Chicago.

Biography

Early life

Mr. Tom was the youngest of eight children. His mother, Lillian Goo, married Tom Y. Chan after her sister, Mary Goo, Tom Y. Chan's first wife, died from influenza. Mary Goo had two children: Florence and Grace. Lillian had six children: Pricilla, Helene, Eunice, Mary, Tom (Chung) and Ping.

Marriage and children

Ping Tom married Valerie Ching (born September 15, 1934) of Honolulu, Hawaii on October 11, 1958. They met in Chicago while Mr. Tom was attending law school at Northwestern and Valerie attended the Gregg Court Reporting School, which was then associated with Northwestern. They had two children:

* Darryl Tom (born March 13, 1970)
* Curtis Tom (born August 13, 1972)

Education

Mr. Tom attended Haines School in Chinatown. He then won a high-school scholarship to Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. Mr. Tom won the Parker scholarship over his best friend, Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., who went on to become the first African-American astronaut. Mr. Tom graduated from Parker in 1952. Both of his sons, Darryl (Class of 1988) and Curtis (Class of 1990), as well as Trace Lawrence (Class of 1977), Mr. Lawrence's son, also attended Francis W. Parker School.

In an article Mr. Tom wrote for the Parker "Weekly" in 1988, he stated that his experience at Parker shaped and influenced his life in two ways. First, Parker's atmosphere of encouragement helped him build self-confidence. Second, Parker's diversity taught him to develop "mutual respect and caring for those of a different race, ethnicity and religion." In fact, he noted that he had not known a Jewish person until he attended Parker. [ Tom, Ping, Parker's student newspaper, "The Weekly", November 16, 1988.]

Mr. Tom then attended Northwestern University where he entered a special six-year dual degree program to obtain a bachelor's degree concurrently with a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law, receiving his B.A. in Economics in 1956 and his J.D. in 1958.

Family Businesses

* Chinese Trading Company (est. 1911): food import company-Vice president, 1966-72; President, 1972-1995
* Chinese Noodle Company (est. 1911): maker of egg noodles and won ton and egg roll skins-Vice president, 1958-1966; President, 1972-1995
* Lekel Chop Suey Pail Company: maker of take out food pails-President, 1980-1995
* Mah Chena Corporation: frozen food and appetizers-President, 1980-1995
* Griesbaum Meat Company: tripe processing company-President, 1980-1995

Chinese Trading Company and Chinese Noodle Company were founded by Tom Y. Chan. The other companies were acquired by the Tom family later.

After his older brother, Chung, died of a heart attack in 1980, Mr. Tom became president of all of the above companies. His sisters, Helene, Eunice, and Mary also worked for the family business, as did his nephews, Jan Wong (Eunice's son) and Chip Tom (Chung's son).

Civic Activities

* Trustee, WTTW-TV Channel 11
* Trustee, Adler Planetarium
* Trustee, Lincoln Academy of Illinois
* Trustee, Jane Addams' Hull House
* Director, Madison Bank
* Member, Chicago Board of Roosevelt University
* Member, Board of Advisors, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center
* Member, Illinois Development Finance Authority
* Member, South Side Planning Board
* Member, Economic Club of Chicago
* Member, design committee for Harold Washington Library
* Member, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority
* Member, U.S. Federal Judicial Nominations Committee
* Director, Asian American Institute
* Founding president (1983), Chinatown Chamber of Commerce
* Chairman, Chinatown Parking Corporation
* Past president and director, Chinese American Civic Council
* Member, Advisory Board of the Chinese American Service League

Mr. Tom was a leader not only in the Chinese community, but in the broader Asian American community as well. His beaming smile and calm demeanor endeared him to people of all backgrounds. Friends say that he had a natural ability resolve differences among people. He was one of the thirteen original founders of the Asian American Coalition of Chicago, an organization that annually brings together diverse Asian communities, including Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian, among others.

Furthermore, some say that because he was a second generation native English speaker, he had an easier time working with mainstream (non-Asian) organizations and even politicians. Mr. Tom was an advisor to U.S. Senators (Paul Simon, Carol Moseley-Braun), Illinois governors (James R. Thompson, Jim Edgar), and Chicago mayors (the late Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley).

Outside of family and the family businesses, Mr. Tom's greatest achievement was his work on Chinatown Square, a $100 million plus residential and commercial expansion of Chinatown on 32-acres of land purchased from the Santa Fe Railroad. As president of the Chinese American Development Corporation, founded in 1984, he unfortunately did not have the chance to see the bustling development that it has become. It was his desire to expand Chinatown so that there would be more room for his fellow Chinese to live and work.

Death and afterward

Following his sudden death in 1995 due to pancreatic cancer, Mr. Tom's wish that a park be built for Chinatown residents came true on October 2, 1999, when the Chicago Park District dedicated the 12-acre Ping Tom Memorial Park next to the Chinatown Square in his name. In 2005, a bust of Mr. Tom was installed in the park to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death.

The Asian American Coalition of Chicago has since named its highest award, the Pan Asian American award, after him in his honor.

Notes

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Irene Cualoping for compiling the list of civic activities. Chronological information about Tom Chan comes from notes prepared by his oldest daughter, Florence, who traveled with him across the United States while he was raising awareness and money for the causes he supported.

ee also

*biography
*Tom Y. Chan
*Ping Tom Memorial Park
*Chinatown, Chicago
*Lauren Tom, Ping Tom's niece

External links

* [http://pingtompark.org Ping Tom Memorial Park Advisory Board Page]
* [http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.results/sort/name.cfm?keyword_park=ping+tom Ping Tom Memorial Park]
* [http://www.chicagochinatown.org Chinatown Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.aacchicago.org Asian American Coalition of Chicago]
* [http://www.ccamuseum.org The Raymond and Jean Lee Chinese-American Museum of Chicago]
* [http://www.haines.cps.k12.il.us Haines School]
* [http://www.fwparker.org Francis W. Parker School]

Persondata
NAME=Tom, Ping
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Chinese American civic leader
DATE OF BIRTH=April 15, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH=Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH=July 7, 1995
PLACE OF DEATH=Chicago, Illinois