Angel Ka-Keung Tang (鄧家強) passed away on Wednesday morning, June 30th, in Newport Beach, surrounded and held by his loving family. He was 75 years old.

A proud and adoring father, a devoted husband, and an accomplished and charismatic international business attorney, he was born and raised in Hong Kong, the fifth of eight children. As a lifelong and inveterate planner, he was just a student in high school when he hit upon the idea of becoming a lawyer in America. So with a guitar on his back and a suitcase in hand, he traveled to Taiwan by boat to study pre-law at Soochow University, the first in his family to attend college. Living up to his nickname Fei Zai (Cool Guy), he learned Mandarin, danced the twist, and made lifelong friends. In his senior year, he met his future wife, Anne Shung-Ling Chang, after being set-up by a mutual friend.

He was accepted to Villanova University Law School in Pennsylvania, where he paid his way to a new life in the States by working odd jobs including as a night shift hotel clerk while mastering the English language which he spoke flawlessly throughout his adult life. It was at Villanova that he was introduced to Francis and Madeline “Mimi” de Lone, who embraced him as part of their own brood, hosted his and Anne’s wedding reception, and whose family would introduce the Tangs to the nuances and shared joy of American holiday traditions.

Angel became an attorney for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) in Philadelphia, where he negotiated international joint ventures and corporate contracts. Devout in his Catholic faith, he regularly punctuated Sunday Mass with his sons at the neighborhood pizza parlor. He relocated with his family to Huntington Beach, California, and ascended to the position of President, Asia Pacific, of am/pm International, a job that met both his desire to be challenged professionally and his love for travel. After nearly four decades of service, he retired from ARCO. But as a true legal eagle with a tireless sense of productivity, he quickly began a happy multi-year stint as a consulting attorney with Tokheim Services France, a manufacturer and servicer of fuel dispensing equipment, which regularly took him to France and China. There, he negotiated international business agreements, led mergers and acquisitions, and joined the board of directors of a successful joint venture in Guangzhou, China, his father’s ancestral city.

In recent years, Angel furthered his passions for travel and music. Beaches were his sanctuary, and he and Anne enjoyed vacations to Hawaii, Bali, Australia, and Greece. He kept his law game sharp by performing pro bono work for Asian immigrants in Orange County, advising his elder son Scott’s legal career, and redlining his younger son Jeff’s business contracts. He took up guitar lessons with Jeff’s childhood guitar instructor, and proved to be a dedicated student. His love for the Everly Brothers, Elvis, and Ricky Nelson was evident through the sounds of his electric guitar, strumming deep into the night. He is survived by his wife Anne, with whom he was to celebrate their 49th anniversary this year, his sons Scott and Jeff, and his brothers and sisters Kawai, Helena, Paulina, Catalina, and Paul. His eldest brother, Ka-Yeung, passed in 2004. An elder sister, May Lin, passed before he was born.

An outdoor memorial service overlooking the Pacific Ocean will be held at Pacific View Mortuary & Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, CA on Sunday, August 29th. Donations are welcome to create a scholarship fund in his memory for immigrant law students who are possessed of the courage, as he was, to pursue their dreams across oceans to other shores.