Gim Ho Louie 

Gim Ho Louie of New York, NY passed away in the earlier morning hours of Dec. 8, 2025. Gim Ho was born in the Taishanese village, in Guangdong, China in 1938. Growing up in Taishan, he understood the value of hard work paired with a good sense of humor to not take life too seriously. Gim Ho believed that deeds and values define a person and not mere words and material possessions.

During his twenties, he moved to New York, learned English to find work as a waiter in Chinese restaurants located in the NJ and NYC area (Bali Kai and Sun Luck to name a few). He worked long hours and covered late shifts (4PM to midnight) to build a better future. He was supposedly an avid bowler and frequented the lanes at Penn Station, NY. This was a closely guarded secret until his multiple strikes during Xbox Kinect bowling games against the grandkids gave him away. Gim Ho is one of three children. His older sister passed away in NYC a few years ago. His younger sister is still alive and lives in Hong Kong.

Gim Ho met and married his wife, Mei Lin, in 1967 and both built a home and family in the lower east side of New York City. Gim Ho and his wife, Mei Lin, valued higher education and encouraged his sons, Stephen and Stanley, to be college educated or higher.

Gim Ho eventually started his own restaurant. He owned and operated Jade East restaurant in NYC Times Square around the 1980s. As NYC regentrified the area, the escalating rent caused Gim Ho to start all over with the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Coop City in the Bronx.  A series of bad ice storms in the mid-1990s forced him to sell this last restaurant.

Gim Ho retired and became an active member of the Soo Yuen Benevolent Association for many years and eventually became co-president of the New York Chapter. He supported and managed association initiatives involving scholarship for younger students, trips to China to visit Taishan villages, and holiday lunch boxes around Thanksgiving. Gim Ho is very proud of this community involvement and his contributions. He is happy that he was able to give back to the community of Chinese immigrants who came to NYC looking for a better future and sought the comfort of home by speaking Taishanese with other fellow immigrants.

Gim Ho had a long and fulfilling life. Gim Ho made a difference by sacrificing and providing a better future for others.  We will always remember his courteous gestures of over serving you food during dim sum and then wrestling you for the check. He usually won.

Gim Ho is survived by his wife, Mei Lin, his two sons, Stephen and Stanley, and his four grandchildren, Kathleen, Kiersten, Timothy and Ian.

Thank you, Gim Ho, husband, dad, grandpa, brother, uncle, friend, and much more, for enriching our lives with your presence and selfless contributions. Rest in peace.