This article was submitted by Johnny Wong’s family in 2022 when they established a Gom Benn memorial scholarship in his name.
Born in Hong Kong in 1956, Johnny Wong immigrated to California with his mother and his brothers Peter and Tommy in July 1969. Johnny’s father stayed behind in Hong Kong and his sister Freda attended nursing school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Johnny grew up on 7th and San Pedro streets, next to the homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. He first lived in an apartment numbered unit ½ (yes, the unit was so small it wasn’t even given a full number), with his mom, brothers and grandparents. He held down numerous odd jobs to help out his family while attending local area schools including John Adams Middle School, then Belmont High. Growing up in this neighborhood, Johnny also experienced violence first hand, including being beat up due to his race, seeing friends who joined gangs and even some who died.
Johnny knew that education was his ticket out of Skid Row. At 16, he started at California State University, Long Beach, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Johnny‘s first job after graduation was with Turner Construction. He was then hired as an auditor at Lehman Wolf, where he earned his certification in public accounting (CPA). One of Johnny’s clients was Duray Industries where he earned the respect and friendship of the owner. It was then in the mid-1980s, Duray approached Johnny to work for them which resulted in him becoming partner when JF Duncan Industries was incorporated in 1988.
He went on to have a highly successful career running Duray / JF Duncan Industries. Johnny also had a personal life full of family. In June 1990, he married May Quan and together they have three children: Taylor, who graduated from the University of Southern California and now resides in Chicago; Derek graduated from Northeastern University and resides in New York City; and Kaitlin who graduated from Chapman University and resides in West Los Angeles. Johnny always reminded everyone that one of his greatest accomplishments was his family and how much they meant to him.
Johnny credited all of these achievements to having a strong foundation based on a proper education. He believed that everybody should have access to education and that money shouldn’t be the barrier. There are countless stories of how Johnny offered, or paid, for somebody else’s education because they weren’t able to. Johnny’s generosity is something for which he will always be remembered.
Johnny died in December 2020. In his honor, the Johnny Wong Foundation has contributed $10,000 to create a memorial scholarship with the Gom Benn Scholarship Fund, which was established by members of the village in Guangzhou that Johnny’s family called home.