Geung Goo (Michael) Lee, who was born in rural Korea and became a prominent and successful businessman, entrepreneur, father, grandfather, and leader of Chicago’s Korean American community, died on July 17, 2024, after suffering a heart attack, in Holland, Michigan.
For over 30 years, until 2006, he owned and operated Lee’s Auto Service, a Mobil franchise and mechanic shop on the southeast corner of Madison Street and Desplaines Avenue in Forest Park. He and his wife, the former Seung Ja Oh, raised four daughters in the large brick corner house in Forest Park that they bought in 1983.
Born on Dec. 20, 1939 in Hansan, Choong Nam province in Japanese-occupied Korea. His father and mother, Yong Kyu Lee and Soo Bae Park, like most of their neighbors, were rice farmers.
A towering figure in the Chicago Korean American community, he was an early Korean immigrant to Chicago after the 1965 elimination of quotas on Asian immigration to the U.S., and he sponsored numerous relatives and others to immigrate to the States.
His last day was a joyful one: An accomplished golfer, he played 18 holes of golf in the morning, spent time with his grandchildren, and did yard work at his daughter Linda’s Michigan home — three of his favorite activities.
Along with his brother, he served in the South Korean army and lived during the 1950-53 war between communist North Korea and democratic South Korea that ravaged the Korean peninsula with violence, death and deprivation.
In 1969, after the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act revoked the American immigration quota system, Mr. Lee immigrated to the United States.
In 1970 he met Seung Ja Oh, a fellow Korean immigrant and Gastsarbeiter nurse from a neighboring province, at Niagara Falls, New York. They were married in August, 1970 at St. Clement Church in Chicago.
In 1973, after working as a mechanic in other gas stations, he opened Lee’s Auto Service, which he owned and operated for 33 years until he retired in 2006. For most of those years he kept to a strict routine: He rose at 5 a.m. to open the station. Fourteen hours later, at 7 p.m., he would close the station, deposit his day’s proceeds at Forest Park Bank, go home for dinner with his family, and then go to the driving range. Sometimes, if his brother-in-law was working, he would sneak out during the day to play a quick nine holes of golf at Columbus Park in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood.
Mr. Lee (who later took the American name Michael) was scrupulously honest, diligent and fair. He would fix flat tires for free. He kept pots of fresh flowers by the pumps, and detailed business records in an old-fashioned, handwritten ledger book in his careful, practiced script. He worked under cars and under their hoods alongside his mechanics, and his hands, already worn through years of farm work, coal mining, and welding, became heavily calloused, cracked, and darkened.
When hiring workers for Lee’s Auto Service, he often chose those facing challenges and willing to work hard. For many years, he and his daughters served Christmas dinner to guests at the Lincoln Park Community Shelter, located in the same neighborhood where he had lived in poverty as a newly-arrived immigrant many years earlier.
Mr. Lee became a U.S. citizen in 1977, and was committed to the responsibilities of citizenship and the promise of opportunity for all Americans. He diligently voted in every primary and general election, and in 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police, he posted a Black Lives Matter sign on his front lawn.
Mr. Lee was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Geum Yae Lee and Yong Sook Lee, his brother Hang Koo Lee, and his grandson, Marlowe Greenwood.
He is survived by his wife, the former Seung Ja Oh; his sisters, Choon Hyung Huh and Jung Sook Lee; his daughters, Anna Miran Lee (John Lillig), Linda Miyoung Lee (Jared Kalina), Viola Misun Lee (Conor Klaus) and Michelle Mihwa Lee (Zachary Greenwood); his grandchildren Eun Hae and Tae Won Lillig, Isabella, Samuel and Noa Kalina, Phillip and Willa Klaus, and Arrow and Echo Greenwood; and numerous relatives, Godchildren and friends.
A wake was held at Nelson Funeral Home in Park Ridge on July 22. A funeral Mass was celebrated on July 23 at Chicago Korean Martyrs Catholic Church in Chicago, followed by interment at All Saints Catholic Cemetery in Des Plaines.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hana Center, 4300 N California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60618 or to the Chicago Parks Foundation.