Nguyen Dinh Hoa, R.I.P.
Stephen Denney
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Published Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News
EDUCATOR WAS INFLUENTIAL IN VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY
Noted scholar, linguistics pioneer Nguyen dies at 76
BY MICHAEL CRONK
Mercury News
In the years before most Americans had even heard of Vietnam, Dinh-Hoa
Nguyen was pioneering the study of Vietnamese language and culture in
the United States.
The Hanoi-born scholar, one of the most influential figures in
America's Vietnamese community, taught English, Vietnamese,
linguistics and literature for more than 40 years and directed the
first U.S. center for Vietnamese studies, at Southern Illinois
University.
``He was the dean of Vietnamese linguistics,'' said Ngoc-Bich Nguyen,
a former colleague and director of the Vietnamese Service at Radio
Free Asia in Washington.
``He had a deep commitment to keeping Vietnamese culture alive. It was
part of his contribution to American culture,'' Ngoc-Bich Nguyen said.
``He definitely believed that, in the mosaic of American culture,
Vietnamese had its role as part of it.''
Dinh-Hoa Nguyen, 76, died Sunday at Stanford University Hospital after
complications from heart bypass surgery in October. Services are
scheduled for Saturday.
Nguyen, a Mountain View resident, was a prolific scholar who, while in
his 70s, completed two books on Vietnamese literature. His
autobiography, ``From the City Inside the Red River: A Cultural Memoir
of Mid-Century Vietnam'' was published last year. He also was the
author of several popular bilingual dictionaries and language
textbooks, as well as numerous articles and essays in international
journals and encyclopedias.
``Professor Nguyen was a very dedicated individual who always had
projects he was working on,'' said James Banerian of San Diego, a
former student. ``Even though he lived in America for many years,
throughout his lifetime his heart was back in Vietnam.''
Earlier this year, Nguyen became the first director of the Institute
of Vietnamese Studies in Garden Grove.
Nguyen went to Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and received his
master's degree and doctorate from New York University. He married Mit
Tran, whom he met at New York University, in 1952.
Two years later, the couple's oldest child, Patricia, was the first
Vietnamese baby born at George Washington University Hospital. She is
now an English as a Second Language instructor at San Jose City
College.
Nguyen shuttled for many years between his native and adopted
countries. He chaired the Department of English at the University of
Saigon and taught linguistics at the universities of Saigon, Hue and
Dalat before immigrating to the United States in 1966. He was a
cultural counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam in
Washington from 1966 to 1969.
His teaching experience also included posts at Columbia University,
the University of Washington and the University of Hawaii, and at
schools in London, Morocco and Taiwan.
He headed the Center for Vietnamese Studies at Southern Illinois from
1969 until his retirement in 1990. Nguyen also was a distinguished
professor of Vietnamese studies at San Jose State University for two
years in the early 1990s.
During the Vietnam War, Nguyen tried to stay away from politics,
preferring instead to concentrate on educating people about the
culture of Vietnam.
In the preface to his autobiography, Nguyen wrote:
``Many books are written about Vietnam these days, but nearly all of
them are about the war. Few try to present to the American reading
public some authentic images of Vietnam or some idea of how its people
live and think.''
Said his daughter Cynthia Nguyen, a Palo Alto psychiatrist:
``Throughout his career, during a time when America and Vietnam had an
extremely conflicted relationship, my father tirelessly promoted the
invaluable educational and cultural interests of Vietnam, of which he
was enormously proud.''
_________________________________________________________________
Contact Michael Cronk at mcr...@sjmercury.com or (408) 343-4523.
Dinh-Hoa Nguyen
Born: Jan. 17, 1924, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Died: Dec. 10, 2000, in Palo Alto.
Survived by: Wife, Mit Tran Nguyen; daughters, Patricia Nguyen of Los
Gatos; Cynthia Nguyen of Palo Alto, and Deborah Nguyen of Atlanta,
Ga.; son, Gregory Nguyen of San Francisco; six grandchildren.
Services: A Buddhist service will be held Saturday at 8 a.m. at the
Mission Chapel of Rancadore & Alameda, 600 S. Second St., San Jose,
followed at 11 a.m. with a procession to Los Gatos Memorial Park.
Memorial: A Dinh-Hoa Nguyen Memorial Fund is being established to
promote Vietnamese studies. [spacer.gif]
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