Son of Chun-Wah Chiu and Yue-Bing Leo, Kung-Ming Chiu was the third of seven children. He and his family fled Communist China and arrived in Hong Kong in 1955, where they eventually settled in Tiu Keng Leng, “Rennie’s Mill,” – the notable Kuomintang refugee camp. In November 1962, Kung-Ming and his family immigrated to the United States as political refugees from President John F. Kennedy’s Emergency Immigration Act. Kung-Ming graduated from San Francisco’s Galileo High School in 1964. After Galileo, he attended City College of San Francisco before matriculating to and graduating in 1969 from the University of California Berkeley earning a degree in Civil Engineering.
Kung-Ming worked for the Alameda County Public Works Agency as a civil engineer from 1969-1978. In 1973, he proudly earned his California Professional Engineer License. He simultaneously served as a Reserve Deputy in the Alameda County Sheriff Department. His parents instilled in him and his siblings the values of hard work and the importance of education for a better future. He never stopped learning and pursued further schooling from 1970-1975 in Public Administration, Business Administration, and Accounting. From 1978-1988, Kung-Ming was a San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officer, appointed by the San Francisco Police Commission, where he owned a Patrol Special Police Beat within the North Point area.
Kung-Ming worked for over thirty years as a self-employed professional engineer specializing in land surveying, planning, and residential design. He took great pride in assisting and mentoring Chinese immigrants and was well known among his friends and family for his playful, if not naughty, sense of humor. With a keen interest in the law, he also volunteered his time as a volunteer Judge-Arbitrator for the Richmond District Community Court, Office of the San Francisco District Attorney from 2006-2010.
Kung-Ming was the quintessential extrovert – outgoing and gregarious, always making friends with strangers, and building bonds with those around him. He approached life with a daily sense of humor and playful mischief. He befriended and mentored countless friends of all ages. From 2000-2009, he returned to City College of San Francisco, where he reunited with his love for ballroom dancing and took classes in French, Computer, Tennis, and Argentine Tango. He was, above all, a doting father to Vivian and a father-figure to many his entire life. In 2010, Kung-Ming rejoined his daughter and led the traveling life of an Army family. Upon departing California, he experienced all that North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and Washington, DC had to offer. In 2016, he settled down with his daughter and grandson in Northern Virginia.
Kung-Ming Chiu’s parents preceded him in death. He is survived by his four brothers and two sisters. Kung-Ming is also survived by his daughter, Vivian Chiu Cochran, and his three-year-old grandson, Carter James Cochran, who both miss him dearly.
Always a Californian at heart, the family will hold services for Kung-Ming Chiu at the Willow Glen Funeral Home at 1039 Lincoln Ave, San Jose, California at 9 a.m. on November 17, 2020. A graveside service will follow immediately afterwards at the Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California at 12 p.m. where he will be laid to rest near his family. Due to current public health restrictions, guest attendance is limited to those invited by the family. The funeral service will be live-streamed for those who cannot attend.
Flowers and/or memorial contributions are equally welcome. In remembrance of Kung-Ming Chiu’s life, the family kindly requests that friends and loved ones make charitable memorial donations in his name to the Foundation Promise Scholarship Fund for The Foundation of City College of San Francisco at https://foundationccsf.org/donation/.
Funeral guests must wear a mask at all times. The indoor funeral service and burial is limited to 25 people. All guests must practice social distancing (6 ft. apart), all guests will sign in upon entering the funeral home providing names and phone numbers. This list is required by the county to be used for contact tracing, if needed. Restrooms and hand sanitizer will be available, and the Willow Glen Funeral Home is sanitized before and after a service. We thank you for your cooperation.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18