On these pages, we celebrate Minnesotans who have led exemplary lives and left our community better than they found it.  They made significant contributions towards mutual understanding between our community and the Minnesota community at large.  We express our deep appreciation for their quiet generosity and inner convictions for lives well lived.

Celebrating the Life of Ming Li Tchou, 1924-2024, CHF Founder and President
Ming Tchou, CHF’s beloved founder and president, passed away peacefully on Nov. 1, 2024, just a few months after celebrating her centennial birthday. Six months later, when the biting winds and frosty temperatures of a MN winter have been replaced by balmy breezes and riotous spring blooms, CHF gathered our community together,
Ming Li Tchou, 1924-2024
Ming Li Tchou, a prominent leader of the Twin Cities Chinese Community, passed away peacefully at home on November 1, a result of complications from a fall and stroke. She was 100 years of age...
Walter N. Graff, 1939-2023
Walter came from a family deeply rooted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His great grandfather came over from Norway and his grandfather served as mayor of Sioux Falls for many years. Commitment to community and public service came naturally to Walter...
Weiming Lu, 盧偉民, 1930-2022
Weiming Lu was born in 1930 in Shanghai, China. It was a tumultuous period throughout China then, full of political turmoil and civil wars, with the Japanese Invasion and Occupation in between and more civil war afterwards...
Robert D. Jacobsen, 卓儒博,1944-2021
Robert Jacobsen grew up in Roseville, MN, and developed an early interest in art, woodworking, architecture, and photography. He pursued several degrees at the University of Minnesota, first concentrating on art history and architecture...