nwasianweekly.com
Dec. 29, 2007

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion

Ron Chew stands inside the East Kong Yick building, which is being transformed into the new home of the Wing Luke Asian Museum.

Top Stories of 2007

$23 million later, museum leader says goodbye

By Carol N. Vu
Northwest Asian Weekly
Aug. 18, 2007

After more than 17 years as executive director of the nation’s first and only museum dedicated to the stories and issues of Asian Pacific Americans, Ron Chew is stepping down.

He plans to stay through the end of December, after which Wing Luke Asian Museum CEO Beth Takekawa will take over as executive director.

Chew called his tenure “an incredible journey” that will culminate in the opening of the museum’s new, expanded home inside the East Kong Yick building in Chinatown/International District next spring.

For the past few years, Chew has been at the forefront of the museum’s $23.2 million capital campaign for the new museum. When fundraising is completed at the end of the year — there’s just $2 million left to be raised — he will move on to other opportunities.

“My job is done,” Chew said Monday to the Northwest Asian Weekly, just a few hours after making the announcement to his staff.

“I was entrusted with the task of leading this effort to build a new museum, and now that the completion of the new museum is in sight, it feels right to pass the torch to a new leader for the next phase of this journey,” Chew said.

He said he doesn’t have a new job lined up. He will probably do some consulting in the meantime, and he wants to talk to the University of Washington Press about writing a book. Whatever his new job will be, he would like it to be flexible enough so he can continue raising his two boys, ages 12 and 9, as a single parent.

Friends and colleagues of Chew reacted to the announcement with a mixture of sadness and appreciation.

“It’s been amazing to work with him for so many years,” said Cassie Chinn, deputy program director at the museum. “He’s had a great influence on so many of us here.”

Community member Bettie Luke was shocked to learn of Chew’s departure. Her brother, the pioneering Seattle City Council member who was killed in a plane crash in 1965, is the namesake of the museum. “When I come up for air, I will certainly wish him well, but the selfish part of me wants him to stay at least for a couple years, after the new museum is open,” she said.

“There is no one like him,” Luke continued. “Ron can see miles ahead in the future (and) win the respect and admiration of all levels of government, business and community. … He is unique in that he is trusted by a myriad of Asian Pacific American groups — across interests, age, class, politics, rank and cultures.

“When Ron asks, they will come.”

The museum’s board presidents thanked him for his years of dedication.

“His endless relationships in the community at large are a testament to the kind of leadership Ron has provided the museum, and we are forever grateful,” said board of trustees Co-president Gloria Lung Wakayama.

Co-president Ellen Ferguson said Chew’s “quiet but unrelenting style … endeared him to many supporters that were cultivated during his tenure as executive director.”

Chew became the Wing Luke’s director at a time when the museum was on the verge of folding.

“Bettie (Luke) asked me if I would consider being director. She was in tears,” Chew recalled. “That’s how dire the situation was. She said, ‘This is what Wing would have wanted.’”

When Chew took the job, he had no idea the museum had a $50,000 deficit. One of his biggest challenges was convincing people — donors, especially — that the concept of a Pan-Asian Pacific American museum was a viable one.

At first, he was the sole staff member, though he soon hired one employee. Neither of them received benefits; what’s more, they had to take pay cuts for the sake of the museum.

When he started, the Wing Luke was operating on about $130,000 a year. Today, its annual budget is more than $1 million and the museum is deficit-free.

Things began to turn around for the museum in 1992, Chew said, when it began designing an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, the World War II presidential decree that forced 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans into internment camps.

The exhibit generated so much funding from the Asian and mainstream communities that the Wing Luke knew it was onto something. The community, organizers learned, was willing to support a project if it felt an emotional attachment to it. That realization led the museum down the path it remains on today: one centered on community-based exhibits, like 2001’s “If Tired Hands Could Talk: Stories of Asian Garment Workers” and the current “Lost in Interpretation: Healthcare in the Asian Pacific Islander American Community.”

Over the years, his work has earned this son of Chinese immigrants national praise.

The Wing Luke became the first affiliate in the Pacific Northwest of the Smithsonian Institution. Three years ago, he was given a prestigious honor from the Ford Foundation, the Leadership for a Changing World award, which came with a $115,000 prize that he donated to the capital campaign.

To honor Chew, the museum plans to name the west lightwell and grand staircase in the new facility after him. The new site, less than two blocks southeast of its current location inside an old automotive garage, will house immersion exhibits, community meeting rooms, a theater, administrative offices and more.

The new executive director is no stranger to the museum. Takekawa has worked for the Wing Luke for the past decade, managing its internal operations and program growth. Museum colleagues have called her a strong and passionate leader.

“The fact that we have such an outstanding leadership team makes us very fortunate, and Beth’s continued leadership will help to make our transition a smooth one,” said Ferguson.

After all his work in growing the museum into what it is today, Chew said he doesn’t see a need to oversee its next era. He will remain involved in the museum in formal and informal ways, and he intends to be at the grand opening in May.

He said he has accomplished his two biggest goals for the museum. The first was turning the Wing Luke into a success. “Back then the concept of an Asian American museum was crazy,” Chew remembers.

His second goal — building a permanent home for the museum — is nearing its completion, with construction 65 percent completed. The building is scheduled to be finished in January, on time and on budget.

A fixture in Chinatown/I.D. for decades — Chew worked as a busboy in Chinatown’s Hong Kong Restaurant as a teenager and was editor of an Asian American newspaper after college — he doesn’t expect to leave the community behind.

“I live on Beacon Hill, just a few minutes away,” he said, gesturing in the direction of the neighborhood. “I’ll be around.”

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