Following the abrupt death of ace reporter Nguyễn Huy Vũ, a group of his friends from graduate school has banded together to start a scholarship fund in his name.
The scholarship is to be awarded annually by Nguyen’s alma mater the University of Illinois at Springfield, to promising graduate students in Nguyen’s field of study, Public Affairs Reporting.
Vu Huy Nguyen, 34, who often wrote his byline the Vietnamese way Nguyen Huy Vu, suffered a heart attack in May while playing soccer and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. On May 17, 2009, his family made the heartbreaking choice of turning off Vu’s artificial life support.
A measure of Vu’s tremendous popularity and the vast extent to which Vu has touched people’s lives can be seen at his memorial services. Mass was held at St. Calistus Catholic Church (which Vietnamese usually call “nhà thờ Tam Biên“) – and the big church was full, filled to standing room with family and friends.
Two of Vu’s graduate school friends, Patrick O’Brien and Andrea Zelinski, even drove all the way from Illinois to be at the service.
O’Brien, Zelinski and other classmates of Vu’s at the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Public Affairs Reporting program have since started a scholarship in Vu’s name.
As Vu’s father Chuyen Nguyen wrote to the Bolsavik:
“We along with Vu’s classmates hope to be able to establish a permanent scholarship, one a year, every year, for those who dedicated their time, skills and effort just like Vu did into the art of journalism.”
The Vu Nguyen PAR Scholarship endowment fund has so far raised $5,400. Donations can be made here. Read more about the scholarship here.
Vu came to the U.S. as a 2-month-old baby, clutched in the arms of his father, a community leader and former aide to State Senator Joe Dunn.
Over the years, Vu has proven himself to be an awesome journalist, both ardent and levelheaded. Vu was one of the main people featured in the documentary film “Saigon U.S.A.”
As an intern at the OC Weekly, Vu covered the the Hi-Tek flag protests, and wrote a passionate essay (here) explaining to the world at large exactly why Vietnamese, despite all their differences about everything else, are anti-communist.
While still an intern, Vu won a share of the OC Press Club Award.
Vu then went on to work at the Seattle Times, the OC Register, the AP. Vu also wrote occasionally for Nguoi Viet 2, the English-language supplement to the Nguoi Viet Daily News.
In 2008, Vu also took a short leave and completed his Master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting at the University of Illinois.
Returning to California after graduate school, Vu began working at the Daily Breeze as an education reporter, a beat that covers all schools in the South Bay including the colleges such as El Camino.
Vu, we miss you. We know you are in God’s hand with peace.