Huu Dinh Nguyen
July 1, 1930 - May 5, 2022
Resident of San Jose
Mr. Nguyễn Đình Hữu, a devoted husband, loving father, and cherished grandfather, passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 5 at noon in San Jose, California. He was born in Vietnam and migrated to the USA in 1975. Prior to 1975, he was a South Vietnamese Lieutenant Colonel serving as a Military Attaché at the Vietnam Embassy in Thaila
nd. He obtained a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama in 1978 and had spent his life time as a public servant working for the Santa Clara County Department of Families and Children Services and advocating for unaccompanied minors in refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia. He actively served on the Senior Care Commission and the Social Service Advisory Council until June 1999. He retired in 1995 but he plunged into leading many initiatives collaboratively with other organizations focusing on helping underprivileged children. In 1988, he founded the Aid to Refugee Children without Parents (ARCWP) and spent years visiting refugee camps to interview unaccompanied minors with Dr. James Freeman, a professor and anthropologist from San Jose State University and to document their needs and struggles. Together they published “Voices from the Camps: Vietnamese Children Seeking Asylum” in 2003. Nguyen and Dr. Freeman were invited by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to participate in the conference on the expatriation of minor refugee children living in refugee camps at that time. Nguyen Dinh Huu accomplished many goals helping to resettle as well as expatriate unaccompanied refugee children. His tireless efforts to disadvantaged children led him to co-founded the Friends of Hue Foundation (FHF) in 1999 after the deluge flood of the century caused widespread destruction in central Vietnam. In the process of founding these organizations and collaborating with others, he trained countless young professionals in the nonprofit sector and how to pay forward. He was a dignified benevolent man with great characters, compassion, and visions that are known and well respected in the communities. His accomplishments as a public servant have been well acknowledged and honored by local and state officials as well as by nonprofit leaders. Nguyen Dinh Huu will be sorely and dearly missed for his dedication and passion to the underserved children and for his uplifting and loving spirits toward the young generations, especially his love and commitment to his wife and surviving children and grandchildren. Visitation will be held on Friday, May 27, 2022 from 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM and also on Saturday, May 28, 2022 from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM at Oakhill Funeral Home & Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125 in the Sunshine Chapel.
