Manny Wong Memorial

Manny Wong, born on New Year’s Day 1938 in Manila, Philippines was overcome by cancer on December 28, 2011 in Mesa, Arizona. Manny is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Wai Ching Wong, and his children, Manny Wong Jr. and his wife, Izumi Wong, Lillian Wong, Bill Wong, his grandson, Kona Wong, and his siblings and extended family.

Memorial services will be held on January 14th, 2012 at 11:00am to 2:00pm at Tempe Church of Christ, 2424 South Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85282, (480) 968-7847. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Manny Wong Memorial Fund #7144242083 at any Wells Fargo Bank or by mail to The Manny Wong Memorial Fund, 998 E. Divot Drive, Tempe AZ 85283. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.facebook.com/mrmannywong or on this blog post or at www.tinyurl.com/mannywong.  

In loving memory of our dear father, a loving and giving husband, a respected and honorable citizen and community supporter and volunteer, Manny Wong will be forever remembered as The Asian Publisher who lived the American Dream and the Community Volunteer who helped thousands of people become U.S. citizens.

As the founder of Arizona’s first Asian bilingual newspaper, Asian American Times, his main goal was to help readers know how they can become better American citizens and touted the blessings of living in the United States.

Manny Wong lived the personification of his newspaper. He was part Chinese, part Filipino, part Phoenix resident and all-American

Born New Year's Day 1938 in Manila, Wong spent the first years of life in Malacañan Palace, the Philippines White House. His father was personal steward to then-Filipino President Manuel L. Quezon, who was his godfather and his namesake.

In 1959, at age 21, Wong left the Philippines for good. He spent much of the '60s working at the Imperial Hotel in Hong Kong, catering to U.S. soldiers on leave from Vietnam.

His quick smile and can-do ways made Wong an army of friends, who predicted he was destined for success because he was such a "people person."

"That's me," he says. "I love people. I love meeting them, talking to them, helping them."

Manny moved to the United States in 1967 and ran a series of restaurants and nightclubs across southern California for years before one of his regular customers told him he thought Wong "could make a million" selling insurance.

The suggestion led Manny to Chicago and the happiest decision of his life. He went to work for renowned billionaire and motivator W. Clement Stone, whose employees at Combined Insurance Co. were required to start their days chanting the mantra: "I feel happy. I feel healthy. I feel ter-r-r-rific!"

In a company crowded with go-getters, Manny was the goingest of them all where the plaques he won as top sales representative each of his first three years with the firm still hang on his office wall.

"Mr. Stone personally gave me those awards," said Manny, beaming. "He told everyone: 'Come on. Here's an immigrant guy from China who's outselling everyone. Let's go!"

Manny, of course, wasn't an immigrant from China. But, like many Filipinos, he is of strong Chinese extraction. And he drew on those ethnic roots when he moved to Phoenix to sell insurance and decided to launch a newspaper.

The Arizona Chinese Times, founded in April 1990, was published solely in Chinese. But Manny quickly realized he was cutting himself off from lucrative English-language advertisers and relaunched the paper a year later as the AsianAmerican Times.

"I have one message I want to get across," said Wong. "It's simple: Dreams do come true in this great country."

As a Community Volunteer, he helped thousands of people navigate the lengthy stressful naturalization process to become U.S. citizens. Manny spent 30 to 40 hours every week helping others achieve the simple yet complex goal of naturalization.

In order to better help those seeking citizenship, he taught himself six different Asian languages and Spanish. In return, all he asked was that they believe in the oath they must take to become an American. His patriotism was fierce. When they arrived for their swearing in ceremony at the Sandra Day O’Conner courthouse, Manny was often there and sang I’m Proud to be an American in a cappella. When he did, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

But Manny’s mission didn’t end at the courthouse. He continued to help each individual adjust to American life. He regularly provided financial advice, offered to make business connections, and even guided new citizens to the appropriate sources when they had personal problems.

Those who knew him described him as the “happiest person they had ever met.” According to Wong all the time and energy is well worth it. “When I walk down the streets of South Phoenix, people say ‘Hi Manny’, you were there when I got my citizenship” and that is music to my ears.”

Online donations to the Manny Wong Memorial Fund also welcomed or visit any Wells Fargo Bank location.

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