San Jose Viet Museum Founder Leaves Lasting Legacy

San Jose Spotlight

December 5, 2025

Loc Vu, the architect of San Jose’s Viet Museum and Little Saigon pioneer, died Saturday at the age of 92.

After months in hospice care in Cupertino, Vu spent his final moments surrounded by family and community members whose histories were indelibly marked by the former South Vietnamese military leader-turned-refugee. The husband, father and grandfather helped resettle more than 20,000 South Asian immigrants in Northern California after the Vietnam War.

After founding San Jose’s nonprofit Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center in 1980, Vu helped provide English classes, job training, housing assistance and immigration and citizenship support for refugees rebuilding their lives upon perilous escapes from Vietnam. Under his leadership, the center fostered cultural and civic events, such as the community Tết festivals.

Vu’s most visible lasting legacy is the Viet Museum, which he developed over the course of three decades and opened in 2007. The old farmhouse in History Park now stores hundreds of precious artifacts, photographs and art about the experiences of the Boat People — sustained through a mix of community support and Vu’s own personal savings. He even mortgaged his family home to ensure its survival.

“This is an inconsolable and immeasurable loss for our community, for those who lived with him and were fortunate enough to be mentored and nurtured by him,” District 2 Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong told San José Spotlight.

Growing up, Duong recalls Vu’s voice often floating around her parents’ house from a Vietnamese-language radio show on Sunday mornings. Her parents followed his broadcasts because they saw themselves as beneficiaries of his work — attending the museum and events he organized.

Duong didn’t meet Vu until 2013 while working as chief of staff for her predecessor, former Supervisor Cindy Chavez. From there, Duong said she regularly sought Vu’s guidance on various community matters.

“One of the biggest pieces of advice he gave me was, if I find myself in conflict with someone, a majority of the time it’s due to a misunderstanding or something left unsaid,” Duong said. “He said every conflict deserves a conversation before it comes to fruition. Where others advised me on how to take people on, he was advising me on how to take them in.”

Vu was born in 1933 in Nam Định, North Vietnam. After studying at the Đà Lạt Military Academy in 1954, he joined the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. He served in several significant leadership roles — among them director of the General Logistics Department and chief of the Planning Department of the Joint General Staff. When Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, Vu and his family escaped the country and ultimately settled in San Jose.

In 2015, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren honored Vu on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, praising his decades of community leadership. Her remarks at the time also recounted how Vu gathered contributions to help restore the abandoned Bien Hoa Military Cemetery in Vietnam.

“With this support, he helped ensure the Vietnamese government would not destroy the site as it had other military cemeteries,” Lofgren said in 2015.

Quinn Tran, president and executive director of the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center, called Vu’s service “unparalleled.”

“To the very last day, to his very last breath, he still wanted to buy things for the community and events out of his own pocket,” Tran told San José Spotlight. “He was still clear minded and practically spent every nickel he had left. I think what we lost is a man who symbolizes the love of South Vietnam and dedication to its refugees.”But much is left uncertain following Vu’s death. The Viet Museum has been closed since December 2024 over a political battle for control over the cultural center. A lawsuit is playing out to determine who has legitimate authority over the nonprofit.

District 7 San Jose Councilmember Bien Doan said he hopes the situation resolves itself soon.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the museum reopen — and expanding his legacy,” Doan told San José Spotlight.

Duong said Vu’s passing reflects a new reality for second and third generation Vietnamese Americans.

“We’re losing our elders — the first to resettle in America — who are our historical bridges,” she said. “It’s left me questioning, what stories are leaving with them? How many more things could our elders have taught that we didn’t have a chance to learn?”

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