Rose Pak recalled as a Chinatown, and SF, original

Rose Pak was remembered for her tough love, dedication to Chinatown and voracious appetite for San Francisco politics at a funeral service Saturday that included speeches and appearances from the city’s movers and shakers, and, in true Pak fashion, a few jabs at her foes.



Because of Pak, said former Mayor Willie Brown, “every board and commission in San Francisco ended up with an Asian representative.”

Fred Lau, the first Asian American police chief of a major city, who served from 1996 to 2002.

A political leader who never held elected office.

From that position, Pak raised money for her favored politicians, gave them introductions to the fast-growing Asian community and provided them with guidance, support and campaign workers.

“Sure, she was tough as nails and relentless, sometimes painfully so, but it was always in the service of our community,” recalled Mayor Ed Lee, who was on the receiving end of both Pak’s generosity and wrath.

The police closed Grant Avenue from Pine Street to Sacramento Street to accommodate the event, and a projector was set up in the street for a live stream of the service.

Gordon Chin, founding director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, recalled Pak’s voracious appetite, both for food food and politics.

[...] it was coffee at 3:30, which gave him just a few hours before dinner, a three-hour event that included more political discussion.

Malcolm Yeung, deputy director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, recalled that when he met Pak, he was a member of the San Francisco Elections Commission.