Samuel "Sam" Chu-Lin was an American journalist. Born in Greenville, Mississippi, Chu-Lin died at the age of 67 in Burbank, California. He became ill at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank after flying in from Phoenix and was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, said his son, Mark. The Chu-Lin last name only goes back two generations because when his grandfather came to the United States, immigration authorities mistakenly combined his given and last names. This was the beginning of the Chu-Lin/Chulin/Chu Lin family in America. Sam Chu-Lin is survived by his wife, Judy, and two sons, Mark F. and Christopher G. Chu-Lin. He is the God-father of his niece, Robyn Elam.
Career and Contributions
Sam Chu-Lin began his career in broadcasting began when he hosted a 1956 radio show in his hometown. He used the name "Sammy Lin," which helped him as many people did not identify this name with an Asian. He later became known for his deep baritone voice. He had wanted to speak without his Southern twang and practiced by listening late at night to CBS Radio's Edward R. Murrow. Chu-Lin's hard work and dedication brought him to Phoenix, New York City, San Francisco, and finally Los Angeles. In the 1960s, Chu-Lin led the way for Chinese Americans in broadcast journalism, being one of only three Asian Americans. He was one of the first Asian Americans to appear on both radio and television, eventually working for all four major broadcast networks. He first reached a national audience with CBS News in New York. Chu-Lin believed that journalism should be educational, and that "informing and helping others is what makes journalism exciting." He felt that journalism was a "chance to use your roots for a positive purpose." He was a frequent contributor to Asian American publications such as AsianWeek and Rafu Shimpo, as well as popular newspapers such as the San Francisco Examiner and the Los Angeles Times. In 1975, Chu-Lin was the first CBS reporter to broadcast nationally the news about the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. He was also in Beijing for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. He fought to produce documentaries about Asian Americans, including a program on titled Asian American-When Your Neighbor Looks Like the Enemy on ABC's "Nightline." Stewart Kwoh, executive director and president of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said in a statement, "He was a reporter who went the extra 10 miles to make sure people knew who their Asian neighbors were." His last broadcast news position before his death was as a freelancer for KTTV, a position he held since 1995. His last published article is a feature story on efforts to preserve Phoenix's Sun Mercantile Building, dated March 3, 2006. U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former Congressman, Norman Mineta, said of Chu-Lin's decades-long career,
