Benjamin Woo, 1923-2008: Unsung hero championed museum, preservation

As a boy, Benjamin Woo survived the Japanese invasion of the Shanghai area of China and helped his parents at the family's Queen Anne laundry business.

	Woo

Woo, a thoughtful man, never studied architecture formally, but passed a qualifying exam to become an architect on his first try. He later designed the King County Fairgrounds.

He served as a King County construction director, loved studying mushrooms and always remembered his roots in Seattle's Asian-American community.

The 84-year-old Mount Baker resident died Friday from heart failure, his family said. His wife, Ruth Woo, whom he married in 1975, is a political activist.

News of his passing ricocheted throughout the city's Asian-American community during Lunar New Year celebrations over the weekend.

"He lived a very rich life," said son Roger Woo, 54, of New York. "He definitely cared about his community. We all looked up to him."

Seattle resident Ark Chin, a friend since 1946, called Woo a genius and an "unsung hero."

"He has done innumerable things that he didn't talk about," Chin said. "But he contributed to the success of many organizations."

Among them: The Wing Luke Asian Museum, Kin On Health Care Center and the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority. He also played a key role in the Puget Sound Mycological Society and became an expert on the Russula mushroom.

Woo was born in Seattle on June 15, 1923. His father moved to Seattle from the Toisan area of southern China searching for a better life, his son said.

When he was 8, his family returned to that country and bought property outside Shanghai, but a Chinese warlord fighting the Japanese eventually commandeered the family house as his headquarters. The Woo family fled to Shanghai's French Quarter, before returning to Seattle in 1932.

On Queen Anne, the family started the Sun Woo Kee laundry. In Cantonese, the name means the "New Woo Establishment," Roger Woo said.

Benjamin Woo relearned English and attended Warren Avenue Elementary School. Before he enrolled at the University of Washington to study engineering, he served in the U.S. Army as a meteorologist in the 1940s.

After his graduation, he started his own architecture firm, but later left the firm to help the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation Development Authority renovate the Bush Hotel, an affordable housing project.

For years, social service groups have used parts of that hotel for events for the Asian elderly and immigrants.

"He is somebody who crossed a lot of boundaries," said Ron Chew, a Seattle writer. "He worked in the mainstream, but he never forgot his roots in the Chinatown and Asian-American communities."

Bob Santos, a longtime Seattle activist, recalled how Woo participated in a 1970s demonstration against the building of the Kingdome. Activists, who were concerned about encroachment from the stadium, were pleased to see Woo marching with them.

"He was always there for us. Anytime there was a crisis in the International District ... I would consult Ben," Santos said.

In 1995, Woo retired from his job as director of the county's construction and facilities management department, but remained active into his 80s, his son said. He only stopped skiing a few years ago because his legs felt weak. Last year, he toured France on a mushroom foray.

His family will spread his ashes across one of his favorite Northwest mushroom spots.

He and Ruth Woo never had children together, but he considered her two children and his five from a previous marriage to be part of the same family.

Ben Woo is survived by his wife; her children, Teresa Yoneyama of West Seattle and Janice Leonard of Long Beach, Wash.; his children, Teresa Murray of Los Angeles, John Woo of New York City, Jeffrey Woo of San Francisco, Roger Woo of Long Island, N.Y., and Philip Woo of Tokyo; and 11 grandchildren.

While there will be no public memorial for Woo, remembrances can be sent to The Wing Luke Asian Museum, 407 Seventh Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104, or to the Ben Woo Scholarship at the Puget Sound Mycological Society, UW Center for Urban Horticulture, P.O. Box 354115, Seattle, WA 98195.