Hee Sook Lee
A Korean woman with short dark hair, bouffant and feathered; she is wearing a dark suit and a white blouse or shirt.
Hee Sook Lee, from a 2020 obituary.
Born
Hee Sook Hong

June 24, 1959
Seoul, South Korea
DiedJuly 18, 2020
Los Angeles
Other namesHee-sook Lee
OccupationBusinesswoman

Hee Sook Lee (Korean: 이희숙; June 24, 1959 – July 18, 2020), born Hee Sook Hong, was a South Korean-born American businesswoman and founder of the BCD Tofu House chain of restaurants.

Early life

Hee Sook Hong was born in Seoul, South Korea. She was the daughter of Young Pyo Hong and Chun Ja Park. Her father was a teacher. After he became disabled, Hee Sook and her mother worked in restaurants to support the household. She studied graphic design and graduated from Santa Monica College in 1994.[1]

Career

An outdoor mall storefront with the name "BCD Tofu House" above the entrance, and black awnings.
A BCD Tofu House location in Irvine, California.

Lee moved to the United States in 1989, with her husband and children. She was founder of the popular BCD Tofu House chain of Korean restaurants,[2] named for the Buk Chang Dong neighborhood of Seoul, where her husband's mother had a restaurant. Her first restaurant opened in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles in April 1996.[3][4] The house specialty, soondubu-jjigae, was made from her own secret recipe.[1] Her chain expanded to include more than a dozen locations, including restaurants in Dallas and New York's Koreatown.[5] Kits for making her signature soup are sold in Korean-American supermarkets.[6]

In early 2020, when Parasite won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, director Bong Joon-ho and other members of the film's cast and crew went to BCD Tofu House on Wilshire Boulevard, after the awards ceremony.[6] The restaurant stayed open 24 hours for take-out orders, and donated soup to needy elderly people and essential workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Lee served as president of Global Children Foundation, a Christian charity founded by Korean-American women.[4][6]

Personal life

Hee Sook Hong married lawyer and restaurant owner Tae Ro Lee in 1983. The couple had three sons. Lee died in Los Angeles in July 2020, aged 61 years, from ovarian cancer.[1][7] Her son Eddie Lee became interim executive of the family's restaurant business.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Friedman, Gillian (2020-08-25). "Hee Sook Lee, Founder of BCD Tofu House, Dies at 61". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  2. ↑ Hagerty, James R. (2020-09-03). "Korean Immigrant's Soft Tofu Soup Drew Long Lines". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  3. 1 2 Kang, Matthew (2020-08-04). "BCD Tofu House Founder Hee Sook Lee, Who Helped Put Korean Food on the Map, Has Died". Eater LA. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  4. 1 2 Kwon, Lisa (2020-08-03). "Hee Sook Lee, Founder of Koreatown's Iconic 24-Hour Soondubu Jjigae Spot BCD Tofu House, Has Died". L.A. TACO. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  5. ↑ "BCD Tofu House in Korea Town NYC, New York". I Just Want To Eat!. August 1, 2013. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Huang, Josie (August 14, 2020). "With BCD Tofu House, Hee Sook Lee Built More Than A Restaurant Empire — She Created A Cultural Phenomenon". LAist. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  7. ↑ Jo, Jong-Yeob (August 29, 2020). "New York Times casts light on late founder of BCD Tofu House". The Dong-A Ilbo. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
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