Ben Luu

Ben was born on October 16, 1958 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phu Luu and Nguyet Do. Ben was the third out of seven children.

Ben started his life in the U.S. at 16, enrolling in J.R. Tucker High School. As fate would have it, he fell in love with his classmate, Queenie Diep. Ben asked to take Queenie out to dinner at Red Lobster even though he didn’t have a lot of money at the time. He let Queenie order her meal and told her he wasn’t hungry, when in reality, he only had enough money to pay for her meal. They continued to go on dates where he would conduct impromptu photoshoots for Queenie at Maymont Park and on the campus of University of Richmond. On November 12, 1988, Ben and Queenie married surrounded by all of their loving friends and family. Through their loving years of marriage, they had four beautiful children: Tiffany, Kevin, Eric, and Beverly. All of Ben’s values were based around his family. Ben ensured that all of his family’s needs and wants were accounted for by giving them the best of the best. His wife and kids were always spoiled by his love, most notably in the form of food. Ben often cooked his wife’s and children’s favourite foods. Ben always made sure to carve out time for his wife and kids by either enjoying a Kung Fu movie, eating dinner together, taking strolls at Springfield Park Elementary School, or teaching them to cook.

Ben immigrated to the U.S. in 1980 with no wealth and shortly afterwards opened up his first restaurant, Golden Dynasty, on West Broad Street. His passion for cooking continued with Nanking 1 (1993) and Nanking 2 (1995), before merging both businesses into one larger location known as Nanking Restaurant in 2004. With his cooking businesses, he catered hundreds of weddings, parties, and events for the local community. People adored his cooking and would come great distances just to order his food. He put great care and love into his cooking, and was skilled enough to cater events with up to 800 guests. Whether it was for a small or large event, he personally took each occasion very seriously to ensure the highest quality experience for his guests. He was beloved and known to many as someone who helped bring together many celebrations, feasts, and get-togethers through his cooking. His restaurants were his pride and joy, and he worked hard managing both the front and backend of the restaurants. He was there to greet you to your seat, take your order, and cook your food while also managing the phone orders for deliveries and pick-ups. Day in and day out, he worked through Christmas and New Years holidays to ensure that the Richmond community was fed.

Not only was Ben successful at starting his culinary businesses, he also succeeded in opening up a jewelry store on West Broad Street in 1998. Ben was a self starter and fast learner. He studied the art of jewelry making and repairing. For many years, he balanced both the jewelry store and restaurants. His entrepreneurial skills were transferable into developing an interest in real estate. He invested in buying many properties, often renovating them into beautiful homes. Through his restaurants, jewelry business, and home renovations, he was known for creating many job opportunities for the local community whether it be a serving position for a catering event or installing new floors for a property. He continued to give many people opportunities for success as he once did when he first immigrated from Vietnam.

Ben was a strong member of his local Vietnamese community, volunteering and donating to Hue Quang Vietnamese Temple. He also helped the Church of Vietnamese Martyrs through food and monetary donations. He was committed to developing the community as well as investing back into it.

This past year, Ben enjoyed playing pickleball with his family, a sport that complimented his previous love for ping-pong years before. When he wasn’t watching pickleball videos to improve his game, he was watching cooking videos to improve his craft. Ben was always a student, eager to learn and always ready to get his hands dirty. Even after retiring for two years, he never took a break from pursuing his dreams and visions. He was always busy developing a new property or business idea.

He was known to bring his extended family together for holidays and get-togethers, cooking many delicious roast pigs and excellent steaks. The get-togethers symbolised how much he valued and cherished his family.

He balanced his hard entrepreneurial work ethic with a great sense of lightheartedness and humour. He was known to crack a joke or loving smile to anyone that crossed paths with him.