[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 12 (Friday, January 19, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E78-E79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO NORMAN LAU KEE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSEPH CROWLEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 19, 2018

  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a great 
New Yorker, Norman Lau Kee.
  Norman Lau Kee was one of the pioneers of the legal profession in New 
York's Chinatown. He was a grandson of Chinese immigrants, a successful 
academic, a World War II veteran and most significantly, was part of a 
very small vanguard of Asian lawyers who first provided legal 
representation for Chinatown residents beginning in the 1950s.
  However, these accomplishments only tell part of the story of the 
lifelong achievements of Norman Lau Kee. He was born 90 years ago in 
1927 to Sing Kee and his wife Ina Chan-Kee in New York's Chinatown. His 
father was a decorated veteran of World War I who was awarded the 
United States' Distinguished Service Cross and France's Croix de Guerre 
medal of honor. Norman Lau Kee attended Brooklyn Tech High School, and 
then served in the Navy during World War II. He later received a degree 
in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology (MIT). While in Boston, he met and fell in love with Esther 
Goon. They were married shortly thereafter and raised a family of five 
children who gave their parents eight grandchildren and one great 
grandchild. During his early professional life, Mr. Kee gravitated to 
law. While working fulltime with an engineering firm, he attended 
Fordham Law School at night from which he received his J.D. degree in 
1955.
  Mr. Kee was only Chinatown's third lawyer when he hung out his 
shingle to open his law practice in 1956. Chinatown's residents had 
many legal needs, and Mr. Kee developed a specialty in immigration law. 
He provided much-needed legal advice to families and their businesses, 
helping them navigate through a complex and foreign legal system. At 
the same time, Mr. Kee helped to bring many family members of Chinatown 
residents into the United States during a long period of great 
political and cultural upheaval in China. By bridging that gap, Mr. Kee 
fostered an enduring cultural connection.
  Mr. Kee also played an important role in government as demonstrated 
by his long and impressive record of distinguished public service. 
Among some of his many contributions, he served on the New York City 
Human Rights Commission from 1969 to 1973 and was chair of the Federal 
Advisory Committee of the United States Immigration and Naturalization 
Service from 1979 to 1980.

[[Page E79]]

  Mr. Kee left his indelible mark not only in the local arena but also 
in the international domain. In 1979, Norman and Esther Kee created the 
Washington D.C.-based U.S.-Asia Institute, chartered to improve 
relations between the United States and Asian nations. He led many 
official delegations of the Institute to Asian countries. Further, he 
served as its chair for many years, and then as chair emeritus. In 
1980, he was a member of the Madrid conference that convened to help 
implement the first Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 
In 1980, he organized a dinner for President Jimmy Carter at the Silver 
Palace restaurant in Chinatown. It was the first and only time a 
sitting president attended a function in the neighborhood. Mr. Kee's 
reputation and experience in U.S.-Sino relations were esteemed and 
appreciated by leaders in both Washington, D.C., and China.
  Despite his national and international endeavors, he never lost sight 
of his formative local roots and he remained active in community 
services. He helped found the Chinese-American Planning Council, became 
a board member of the highly-regarded Hamilton Madison House and helped 
found and served on the Board of Trustees of Confucius Plaza. Mr. Kee 
also served on the board of the YMCA of Greater New York. There, his 
efforts and financial support helped to establish the foundation of the 
YMCA in Chinatown, and he ensured that Chinatown was given its first 
swimming pool in its local Y. The YMCA ultimately conferred its highest 
honor on Mr. Kee, inducting him into the prestigious Order of the Red 
Triangle. In 2010, Mr. Kee and his son Glenn Lau-Kee were recipients of 
the Honorable George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award conferred by the New 
York State Bar Association's Federal Litigation Section. In further 
recognition of Mr. Kee's pioneering services as an early Chinatown 
lawyer that extended to a lifetime of commitment, the Asian American 
Bar Association of New York established the Norman Lau Kee Trailblazer 
Award in his honor. Norman Lau Kee closed out his professional life at 
the age of 89 after 60 years of practicing law and becoming a local 
icon who also had a national and global reputation. Norman Lau Kee 
touched so many lives in a positive and beneficial way. He was a 
paragon of the American Dream and is more than deserving of the highest 
praise.

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