Rosa Hae Sook Choi Kim (married surname “Kim,” maiden surname “Choi,” Korean first name “Hae Sook,” Christian baptismal name “Rosa”) of River Forest, died on Dec. 28, 2023 while being cared for in the Intensive Care Unit of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after experiencing complications from bacterial and viral pneumonia. Born on Feb. 24, 1936 when Korea was a unified country, her birthplace is now in North Korea. In her family of origin, she was the oldest, with three younger sisters.
Rosa is survived by her two youngest sisters, both of whom are in North Korea, and by two half-brothers in South Korea, who were both born after Rosa’s father remarried following the death of Rosa’s mother from typhoid.
From no religion in her family of origin, as an adult she converted to the Catholic faith after being evangelized by German Catholic missionaries in Korea. In 1959, she graduated with a medical degree from Seoul National University in South Korea. She was one of a handful of women medical students in her graduating class. During her pediatric residency at National Medical Center in Seoul, she received pediatric training from Scandinavian doctors who, under United Nations’ auspices, were helping South Korea re-establish its health-care system after the Korean War.
Because she was a foreign medical school graduate, when she immigrated to the United States, she had to repeat her post-medical school training if she wanted to practice pediatrics in the United States. She did so in New York, from 1964 to 1968. She was introduced to her future husband, Simon Hwan Kim, a devout Korean Catholic, in New York, and the two married in a Catholic wedding in St. Patrick Cathedral, in New York City. The couple settled in Illinois, giving birth in July 1969 to their only child, a son, John Ihn Kim. Shortly after his birth, they moved to Oak Park. From 1971 to 1973, she was a Pediatric Hematology Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago Medical Center.
In July 1973, she became Board Certified and began a private pediatrics practice in Oak Park, later named “Pediatrics Unlimited.” In July 1977 she became a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. During her over 40-year career as a pediatrician, she had admitting privileges at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, and at Westlake Hospital (now closed) in Melrose Park. She loved her work and was encouraged to flourish in it by her husband Simon, who died in November 1999.
For decades after the Korean War, Rosa was cut off from her sisters in North Korea and did not know whether they were alive or dead. Later, through a special program, she was able to learn their whereabouts and that the second sister had died while the younger two sisters were still living. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, she made several trips to North Korea by way of Beijing in order to meet her surviving sisters in person.
Rosa is survived by her sisters and half-brothers and by her son, John.
In lieu of sending flowers, please make a donation in memory of Rosa Hae Sook Choi Kim to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or make a donation to plant a tree (https://www13.funeralwebhost.com/zmt/obituary/Rosa-Kim/1072559/memorial-tree).
Visitation was held on Jan. 6 at St. Luke Catholic Church, followed by Mass and interment at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.
Arrangements were handled by Zimmerman-Harnett Funeral Home.