Quách Nhứt Danh (born May 27, 1939), often referred to as Danh Quach or Danh Nhut Quach, is a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

businessman and one of the "pioneers" of

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

Little Saigon Little Saigon ( vi, Sài Gòn nhỏ or Tiểu Sài Gòn) is a name given to ethnic enclaves of expatriate Vietnamese mainly in English-speaking countries. Alternate names include Little Vietnam and Little Hanoi (mainly in historically communist ...

Early life

Born in Soc Trang, he was a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, but fled in 1975 with his wife, nine-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and sister, after the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...

brought the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

to an end. He first settled in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Fort Chaffee Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center is an Army National Guard installation in western Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Fort Smith. Established as Camp Chaffee in 1941, renamed to Fort Chaffee in 1956, Fort Chaffee has served as a United ...

region before moving to

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, to attend

pharmacy school The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is often an undergraduate or postgraduate pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In many countries, this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a bachelor of ...

again at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Medical Center, from which he graduated in May 1977. Following his graduation, he lived briefly in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, but eventually gravitated to

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, due to the warmer weather and friends who had preceded him there.

Business in Southern California

He opened his pharmacy on Bolsa Avenue in

, in 1978, selling not only medicine, but electrical appliances, bicycle seats, and a variety of other goods; less than 10 years after his arrival, he had already achieved financial success. He soon branched out into other businesses, including freight forwarding; by 1988, he was sending 10,000 pounds of goods to Vietnam each month, a business fueled by the U.S.

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

against Vietnam, which led Vietnamese Americans to send much-needed supplies to their relatives who remained in Vietnam. By 1989, he had taken money earned from his small business success to become a real estate investor; his pharmacy would become the heart of

. Eventually, he shrank his original store to about a third of its former size in order to make room for his son to move his medical practice in next door.

Flag controversy

Beginning in January 1999, he became involved in a political controversy when he served a 30-day eviction notice to a tenant in a shopping center he owned for inciting a nuisance there. The tenant was displaying a photo of

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...

and a

flag of Vietnam The flag of Vietnam, officially the National Flag of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), or (), also (), was designed in 1940 and used during an uprising against the French in southern Vietnam that year. The red background symbolizes ...

in the window of his video store; angered by the store owner's pro-Communist display, local residents protested outside of the store for four days before a judge ruled that the store owner had to take down the picture and flag. However, a

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

judge reversed the decision the following month. The tenant required an escort of one hundred police officers to take him to his store the following day and protect him from protesters while he rehung the flag. The tenant, disappointed that his landlord, the police, and the city of Westminster had "failed to protect isfree speech rights", filed another lawsuit against them a year later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quach, Danh 1939 births Living people Vietnamese emigrants to the United States People from Westminster, California University of Nebraska Medical Center alumni