Helen Sunhee Kim

Helen Sunhee Kim passed away on January 12, 2026. Helen was a lifelong organizer, trainer, mentor, and leader for social justice organizations with a focus on immigrant workers and cross issue social movement strategies. Her enormous love and generosity for those she worked with extended to her friends who could always count on her compassion, wisdom, joy, and camaraderie.

Helen was born in Korea on July 10, 1963 and immigrated to the Chicago area in 1976. She attended Carleton College and then received a law degree from the University of Minnesota. She moved to Oakland, California where, as she was preparing for the bar exam, started volunteering with Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA). When they offered her a job as an organizer, she never looked back.

After AIWA, she spent many years as a freelance trainer, consultant, and board member for a broad range of social justice organizations across the fields of labor, immigrant rights, environmental justice, and Korean human rights. She served as Senior Fellow and Advisor for social justice leaders as part of the Rockwood Leadership Institute where she served for 20 years. In 2008, with her dear friend Frances Kunreuther, she published “Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership” which was a recipient of the 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal in Philanthropy/Charity/Nonprofit.

Helen was a devoted daughter, sister and aunt to her parents John Changduk (deceased) and Ellen Hyesook Kim, her three siblings, Nancy Kang, Susan Paik (and her husband Brad) and Andrew Kim (and his wife Kathy). She was deeply involved in the lives of her five nieces and nephews, Megan Kang, Jimmy Kang, Katie Kang, Sammy Paik and Gracie Paik.

Helen had a passion for places of natural beauty and great food. Her travel was driven by her appreciation for and knowledge of music, art, architecture, and history. She treasured her annual trips with her dear friends, Mimi Kim and Ann Chun.

Helen enjoyed Korean folk singing and drumming as a devotee of the pung’mul tradition of Imsil Pilbong Nongak (임실필봉농악). She was a Buddhist with deep communal practice in Ankoin and Insight meditation lineages. She also maintained a special connection to Mihwangsa (미황사), a Buddhist temple on Korea’s Land’s End, and the Korean women’s Umumsa Temple (운문사).

Recently, Helen quietly suffered from several chronic health conditions which finally led to her passing in her home in Brooklyn, New York.

She was deeply loved by many and will be dearly missed by her friends, family, colleagues, and those touched by her lifelong devotion to freedom and justice.

A funeral service will take place on January 31, 2026 at Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner Street, Des Plaines, IL. Visitation will be held 4-5pm CST with a service at 5pm CST. A public celebration of life is planned for Spring 2026 in the Bay Area.

Helen’s family has requested donations can be made in her honor to some of the organizations that Helen gave to regularly:

—National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), who have started the Helen S. Kim Fund for Worker Leadership: www.domesticworkers.org

- Rockwood Leadership Institute Helen S. Kim Movement Weavers Fund. www.rockwoodleadership.org

—National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC): www.nakasec.org

—HANA Centre: www.hanacenter.org

—Collective Acceleration: www.collective-acceleration.org

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.OehlerFuneralHome.com for the KIM family.