Michael Wong

Michael Wong of Phoenix, Arizona, 65, passed away unexpectedly while visiting family in Alhambra, California on September 8, 2025. He was born in Hong Kong to Kwok Keung and Pui Hing Wong on July 17,1960. He was a loving and dedicated husband, son, brother and uncle.

Michael Wong was preceded in death by his father Kwok Keung Wong. He leaves to cherish his memory, beloved wife Lily Wong (Tom) of 18.5 years, mother Pui Hing Wong, older sister Grace Woo, younger brother Harry Wong (Cathy), nieces Kristen Woo, Lindsie Tom, and Jackie Tom and nephews Kellen Tom and Matthew Wong.

Michael immigrated with his family to the United States in 1966. They lived in San Francisco for about six months and then relocated to Los Angeles after his dad obtained a civil engineer job with Los Angeles County Flood Control.

The family lived near Los Angeles Chinatown from 1967 to 1971. He attended Castelar Elementary School and made the 1.5-mile roundtrip walk each day with his brother and sister.

In 1971, his family moved to Alhambra. He attended Fremont Elementary School and graduated from Alhambra High School in 1978, where he ran cross country and excelled in academics. He earned a Bachelors in Business Information Systems from Cal State University, Los Angeles in 1982.

Michael’s innate work ethics and dedication started at a young age. While in high school, he worked part time at the Schilling Graphics printing company, and later at Fremont Market as a box boy. He saved up enough money to buy his first car, a bright yellow Camaro Z-28. He eventually parted ways with the gas guzzling Camaro because he could not afford the $0.86 per gallon gas.

Michael’s hard-working character continued with him to State Farm Insurance where he was 5 days short of celebrating his 42nd work anniversary. His State Farm career began in 1983 at the Southern California Regional Office in Costa Mesa, CA. He worked in all facets of technical support to include teleprocessing, networking, mainframe systems, storage management, midrange systems, programming, and issuance. In 1995, Michael moved to the Greater California Regional Office in Bakersfield, CA to build and support the network and mainframe environments for the new data center. In 1997, he accepted an opportunity to lead the network team at the Insurance Support Center (ISC) West data center in Phoenix, AZ. He was involved with the initial network builds at all ISC locations and maintained the network infrastructure at the ISC West data center. When the data center was closed in 2019, Michael moved to IT Network Operations supporting agent networks. When his work was outsourced in 2023, Michael’s transitioned to the Infrastructure Engineering and Operations Management Workplace Services / Service Desk and Incident Response team providing service delivery support and ensuring critical service levels and key measures were met by State Farm’s managed service provider.

Michael was a renaissance man. He liked fishing, hiking, visiting national parks, listening to music, going to museums, repairing things, reading for research, problem solving anything that related to technology, watching sports, photography, watching television (documentaries, how-to, reality, and world news), working on cars, golfing, skiing, working out, grilling, watching his eyelids, shopping & making to do lists.

His favorite teams were the LA Lakers, Dodgers, Rams, & the UCLA Bruins. He most enjoyed college football season & March Madness. He attended live sporting event no matter who was playing and would cheer for any team that wasn’t playing his. He was looking forward to travel destinations in the Big 10 and Big 12 conferences and around the world.

He was a car enthusiast. From his first Camaro to his last 4-Runner, he learned how to maintain and repair them, washed and waxed them and drove them fast. Only until death do we part was he able to part with his 2000 Toyota 4-Runner with over 300,000 miles and his 1986 Toyota Supra.

Michael cherished the relationships with his family and friends both in Southern California and Arizona. Despite the distance between L.A. and Phoenix, he remained a key presence in the lives of his family and friends in both cities, always finding a way to be part of major milestones, events, and celebrations, especially with his nieces and nephews.

Michael, we are thankful and grateful for all that you have provided for the family. You were the best friend, mentor and companion. You were always there to provide support and guidance. We will always love you and carry your memories in our hearts forever.

California Viewing will be held at Rose Hills, Hua Yuan Center, Hall of Wisdom, 3888 Workman Mill Rd., Whittier, CA 90601, Wednesday, September 24, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. with a Traditional Ritual of Offering at 6:30 p.m.

Arizona Viewing and Funeral will be held at Greenwood Cemetery, Serenity Chapel, 719 North 27th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009, Saturday, October 4, 2025. The viewing begins at 10:00 am. followed by the funeral services at 11:00 a.m. Grave site service will follow at the Greenwood Cemetery Chinese Memorial Garden. Funeral Reception will follow gravesite services.

In lieu of flowers, the family ask that you make a donation to the Phoenix Children’s Foundation to support the Center for Heart Care or to a charity of your choice.