SAN FRANCISCO—On December 14, scholar and author Judith “Judy” Yung passed away at the age of 74 after falling in her home in San Francisco.
Born to immigrant parents on January 25, 1946 in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Yung attended San Francisco State College (now known as San Francisco State University), where she double-majored in English Literature and Chinese Studies and graduated in 1967.
She went on to get her Master’s in Library Science and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California-Berkeley.
In 1990, the University of California in Santa Cruz (UCSC) hired Yung to work as an assistant professor in the Department of American Studies and she became a tenured professor, as well as the chairwoman of the department.
Bettina Fay Aptheker, Yung’s colleague, described Yung as a “wonderful colleague” who was “adored” by students, she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition, Apehteker said Yung “inaugurated the idea of courses in Asian American studies at UCSC” and mentored numerous students.
Yung was behind the opening of Asian Community Library (ACL), the first Asian public library in the United States.
Yung has written several books throughout her lifetime. Some of which include “San Francisco’s Chinatown” (2006), “The Adventures of Eddie Fung” (2007), and “Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America” (2010).
She leaves behind siblings, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews. Her husband, Eddie Fung (whom she married in 2003), passed away in 2018.
