Ron Chew

Ron Chew (born Ronald A. Chew, May 17, 1953) is an American consultant, journalist, oral historian, Asian American community leader, community organizer, and activist. Chew is a leader in the community-based model of museum exhibit development. He is the former executive director of the Wing Luke Museum, former editor and former board president of the International Examiner, and former director of the International Community Health Services (ICHS) Foundation.^[1][2] He serves as a trustee on the board of the Seattle Public Library (SPL).^[3] Chew lives in Seattle, Washington.

Chew was born in Seattle to Chinese immigrants. His mother was a garment worker and his father was a waiter at the Hong Kong Restaurant on Maynard Avenue South in Seattle's Chinatown-International District (CID). Chew attended Franklin High School and the University of Washington. At the university, Chew studied journalism and worked as a reporter at the Daily. In his senior year he applied for the position of editor, but faculty gave the position to a white student who hadn't applied, prompting Chew to formally charge the Daily with discrimination. Shortly after, Chew left the UW to work at the International Examiner in Seattle's Chinatown-International District (CID). Ultimately the lawsuit vindicated Chew but he did not return to UW to finish his studies.^[4]

Chew began working as a journalist at the International Examiner in 1975, and in 1977 he became the newspaper's editor. During his tenure he covered local events, social concerns and political issues faced by residents of the International District including substandard housing and health care for the poor and elderly and threats to the historic neighborhood from redevelopment. Chew's connections and involvement in the community through the International Examiner honed his skills in community organizing for a cause.^[5] Chew later served as board president for the newspaper.

In the late 1980s, Chew began the Chinese Oral History Project, gathering numerous interviews with elderly Chinese Americans.^[6] The project became a traveling exhibit and led to his being recruited as the new director for the struggling Wing Luke Asian Museum (WLAM) in 1991.^[7] Under Chew's leadership, the museum staff developed exhibits collaboratively with community members of varied backgrounds and created programs and displays that addressed and contextualized current issues. This is known as the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) model of exhibit development.^[8]

In 2004 Chew, along with his staff, board and community volunteers, undertook a substantial expansion of the Wing Luke Asian Museum by working toward acquiring a historic building in the International District as a permanent home for the museum. A successful $23 million capital campaign enabled the museum to purchase and renovate the East Kong Yick Building as their new home, which opened in 2008. At the conclusion of the campaign, Chew stepped down to pursue a new career as a community history consultant.^[9] The museum was renamed the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.^[10]

Since 2008, Chew has owned and operated Chew Communications, a community history and resource development consulting firm in Seattle. From 2008 to 2010 he was scholar in residence in the museology department at the University of Washington. Chew also served as executive director of the International Community Health Services (ICHS) Foundation in Seattle, which raises funds to promote access to affordable health care in Asian Pacific Islander, refugee, immigrant, and low-income communities.^[11][12] He retired at the end of 2020.^[13] In July of 2024, ICHS announced it would name the new senior care center in his honor, as the Ron Chew Healthy Aging and Wellness Center.^[14] The center, for which Chew led the AiPACE Reimagine Aging Capital Campaign during his time at ICHS, is a PACE-model (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) collaborative effort involving community organizations ICHS, Kin On Health Care Center, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), and El Centro de la Raza.^[15][16]

An avid gardener, Chew stated in an interview with The Seattle Times that "gardens express ourselves in a very elemental way." Chew built a 120 square foot shed with a loft and electricity in his backyard garden, which doubled as a recording studio for his 2020 memoir with audiobook producer John Pai.^[17]

In 2002, the University of Washington recognized Chew's innovative work since leaving college and awarded him an honorary Bachelor of Arts Degree. In 2004, Chew received the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World Award. In 2005, the American Association of Museums included Chew in their Centennial Honor Roll for his work recasting the museum as a tool in the fight for social justice.^[18][19][20]

In 2021, Chew received two lifetime achievement awards. Dr. Allyson Brooks, the Washington State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and Director of the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP), recognized Chew for "career achievement" with an Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation Award. The award, signed by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, highlighted Chew's "commitment to rehabilitating the East Kong Yick Building."^[21] Chew was also honored with a Legacy Award from the Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO) for his "lifelong dedication to uplifting Asian heritage through community voices."^[22]

Additionally, Chew was the 2021 recipient of the Anne Focke Arts Leadership Award, sponsored by the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design. The award recognized Chew's work as a scholar-in-residence at the University.^[23]

Chew's publications include Community-Based Arts Organizations: A New Center of Gravity through Americans for the Arts, which outlines the emerging centrality of arts organizations as change agents in communities.^[24]. In 2012, he published Remembering Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes: The Legacy of Filipino American Labor Activism.^[25] Chew's autobiography, My Unforgotten Seattle, was published in the fall of 2020.

• — (1994). Reflections of Seattle's Chinese Americans : the first 100 years. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press : Wing Luke Asian Museum. ISBN 9780295974125. OCLC 30894283, 607705363, 622995841.
• — (2009). Community-Based Arts Organizations: A New Center of Gravity (PDF). Washington, DC: Americans for the Arts. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-12.
• — (2012). Remembering Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes: the legacy of Filipino American labor activism. Seattle, WA: Alaskero Foundation / University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295991900. OCLC 768041919.
• — (2020). My Unforgotten Seattle. Seattle, WA: International Examiner. ISBN 978-0295748412.

• Wing Luke Museum
• Chinatown-International District
• International Examiner
• Ecomuseum

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ron Chew.

• Chew Communications
• International Community Health Services Foundation
• Ron Chew oral history interview at the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project
• University of Washington Museology
• Wing Luke Museum