Obituary of Chang Ho Lee

Chang Ho "Peter" Lee of Chapel Hill, North Carolina passed away on April 5, 2017 at the age of 87 at Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina. He was born on May 9, 1929 in a riverside village in what is now North Korea. Mr. Lee was a student at Kim Il Sung University studying English when the Korean War began. While being held prisoner at Geoje Island POW Camp run by United Nations forces, he served as one of the main English translators and a key representative of POWs who refused to be repatriated to the communist North. Following the end of the war, he became a professor of English Linguistics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. He later made his first trip to the United States in 1963 on a Fulbright scholarship. He made his second in 1971 when he enrolled at UCLA as a PhD student, with his family joining him soon thereafter to begin a new life in the US. Mr. Lee is preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, In-Ok Lee. He is survived by his three children, Tong Hyon Lee and his wife Chon, Soh-Hyon (Soy) Lee Williams, and Chi-Hyon Lee and his wife Xiang; and his granddaughter, Soo Jin Lee. He will be remembered for his amiability, devotion to his Christian faith and wholehearted pride in and love for his family. A celebration of Mr. Lee's life will be held on Sunday, April 9 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Walker's Funeral Home, 120 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516. Services honoring Mr. Lee will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 10, followed by burial at Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery, between Fordham Blvd. (US-15-501 Business) and Legion Road, west of Scarlett Drive.