Meet Henry Chang Jr.
Architect, Pilot, Performer, Public Servant, Husband and Father…
The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Biography
Henry was born Dec. 17, 1934 in Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. During the Japanese invasion of Shantou City, Henry and his siblings escaped to Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1936. There he lived with his Aunt Barbara separated from his parents until 1940. In 1940 he was reunited with his parents when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong. Henry and his siblings escaped the invading army by boat returning to Shantou City. During that time Henry remembers witnessing constant bombings, executions of Chinese Citizens and killings by the Japanese occupiers. After the war left China in shambles Henry’s parents sent him to Hong Kong in 1945 to study at the Diocesan Boy’s School. Henry then went to Sydney Australia in 1950 where he attended Knox College. In 1952 Henry attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with a Bachelors in Architecture in 1961. In 1960 Henry married Constance Poon and He began working with Novelli Engineering Co. in Downtown Oakland. In 1971 Henry established his own Architectural practice: Henry Chang Jr. & Associates, Inc. in Oakland Chinatown. His first project was the Silver Dragon Restaurant in 1972. Henry became a well-respected member of the Oakland Community and in 1994 he was appointed as a Councilmember At-Large in the City of Oakland. He served for 4 terms totaling 14 years of public service. He then served as the Vice-Mayor of Oakland for 4 terms. Henry has 4 children, 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. He was awarded Captain of the Year by United States Tennis Association North Cal (2008), Immigrant of the Year Award in 1980, the Americanism Award in 1990, Volunteer of the Year award and is even honored by a Henry Chang Jr. Appreciation Day in the City of Oakland on September 27, 1990.
Aviation
One of Henry’s passions has always been aviation. His love for flying began at the early age of 9 spending most of the time watching aircraft take off and land. Henry flew his first airplane at the age of 15 at the Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, and in the following years he had the opportunity to fly a wide variety of different aircraft.
Here is a gallery of such planes….
Architecture
After a few years of honing his skill Henry established his own Architectural Firm in 1971: Henry Chang Jr. & Associates Inc. Through this prolific company Henry left his mark particularly in the Oakland Chinatown community.
Politics
With Henry’s winsom personality and deep love and commitment to the local community it is no surprise that he would eventually move into the political arena. Henry’s political career formally began on December 6, 1994 when he started his term as Councilmember At-Large for the City of Oakland. Due to his distinguished service Henry was re-elected for 3 consecutive terms serving the City of Oakland for 14 years. Befor Vice-Mayor Frank Ogawa passed away, Henry was appointed as his replacement. Henry served as Vice Mayor of the City of Oakland for 4 years working alongside Mayor Jerry Brown. One notable achievement is passing important legislation on the ban of the sale of Junk Guns.
Diplomacy
Henry’s influence reached far beyond the local community into foreign affairs. From East Asia, to Mongolia, to Havana, Henry sought to establish important international friendships. One of the highlights of Henry’s diplomattic efforts was the attempt to acquire Panda’s for the Oakland Zoo.
Sports and Recreation
Henry’s life was not all work; he also found time to enjoy tennis and basketball as well as delve into the art of performance with magic and even a local play. In the 1960s Henry and his wife Connie helped to start the first Chinese Tennis Association in the Bay Area. The club had grown to hundreds of players in a very short time. In the 1970’s he served as president of the Montclair Tennis Association and started the first Little Olympics at Laney College in Oakland with participants coming from all over Northern California. As president of the Chinese Cal Alumni of Northern California Henry organized activities to support the Cal Bear Tennis Team by holding tennis tournament and marathon fundraisers. In the 1980’s as president of the Lions Club Henry started the Lions Basketball Team and Tennis team and encouraged other Lions Club to do the same, having many friendly matches between many of the Lions Clubs in the region. In the 1990’s Henry organized and captained an Over-35 basketball team to compete in the Northern California Chinese Basketball Association Championship. His team won 2 championships in 1990 and 1991. As the winning team we were supposed to travel to Los Angeles to compete with the Southern California champion during "Fathers Day". Since most of the players were fathers they did not want to go to LA on Fathers Day and dropped out of the 1992 competition. Henry’s basketball team also made a friendship tour to China playing in Dalian, Xian (w/ Chna national team), Guilin, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In 1996 as the vice mayor of Oakland Henry organized a city officials and city staffs baseball team and asked other city to do the same so that we can have better relationship between cities through sports. Our first match was against San Leandro (we lost). Presently Henry organized the Laney Tennis Family which has grown to over 575 members. Laney Tennis Family became the model to promote tennis for the under-served community and Henry received the USTA Diversity Service Awards and the President's Awards. In 2010 Henry took a tennis team of 35 players to compete in China (Shanghai & Nanging) to promote better international relationship through SPORTS and in 2015 he took a tennis team of 30 players to compete in China (Chengdu & Suzhou Anhui).
Family
Henry married Constance Poon Chang in 1960. They met while both studying at U.C. Berkeley at the Westminster House. Together they have 4 children, 6 Grandchildren and 1 Great Grandchild.
