Vu Nguyen, 1975-2009

Vu Nguyen died Friday night five days after suffering a heart attack.

The 34-year-old Long Beach resident had been married for just six months.

Nguyen, who developed a passion for journalism in high school and contributed to the OC Weekly while attending Cal State Fullerton, was a reporter for The Seattle Times, Yakima Herald-Republic, Orange County Register, Nguoi Viet 2 in Little Saigon, the Associated Press bureau in Springfield, Ill., and most recently The Daily Breeze.

His father said his son was passionate about journalism and “giving a voice to those who do not have a voice.”

Vu was an inspired journalist who really cared about covering the Vietnamese-American community. He also had a gift for making anyone feel happy. I remember back in 1994 when Vu had the entire audience at our AAJA Lunar New Year Banquet in stitches as he reenacted Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”

Links to stories about Vu Nguyen:

Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nguyen-family-friends-2415176-life-register

The Daily Breeze
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_12380233

Those of us who knew Vu are heartbroken by this immense loss. We are discussing how we might best honor Vu’s memory. If you have a story about Vu or ideas for honoring his life, please post your comments below (registration required). You can also send an email to aajaseattle@gmail.com with “Vu” in the subject line.