Pearl Wong

September 6, 1931 - June 8, 2022

Pearl Lau Wong, aged 90 years, passed away peacefully in her home on June 8, 2022, in Daly City, CA, from lung disease. One of four children, Pearl was born in San Francisco on September 6, 1931, to Shing Yee Lau and Choy Shee Lau. Pearl graduated from Commerce HS, and in 1952, she married Richard Y. Wong. Pearl and Richard raised three daughters -- Cookie, Michele and Melainie.

In the work force, Pearl was proud to work with an immigration lawyer acting as an interpreter for Chinese seeking residency in San Francisco. In the 1960’s Pearl managed her father’s San Francisco Chinatown restaurant, the Great Eastern. In 1984 she founded the jazz venue “Jazz at Pearl’s” where she nurtured and elevated the local jazz scene to present countless talented musicians at her club until 2003.

In her retirement, she enjoyed traveling on cruises, being with her family and friends, watching Chinese opera and cheering for the Golden State Warriors. Pearl was pleased to be acknowledged as a Woman Warrior by the Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area

Coalition in 2004 and to have received Pearl L. Wong Day Proclamations by the City and County of San Francisco in 2000 and 2021.

Pearl will be greatly missed by her surviving siblings, Jane (Bob Tsang deceased), Howard Lau (Doris) and Mamie (Wiley Yee - deceased), her daughters Cookie (Jim Chanteloup), Michele (Randy Hirai), and her grandchildren Tamari, Dustin and Austin Hedani. She rejoins her husband Richard and her youngest daughter Melainie (Dean Hedani) in heaven.

No services are planned. In lieu of flowers, you can make donations in her name to the KCSM Jazz station, the California Jazz Conservatory, Mission Hospice or a charity of your choice.