Margaret Chen

Margaret Lin Chen was born on March 14, 1948, in San Francisco's Chinatown to immigrant parents who had fled war-torn China in search of a better life. Growing up in a small apartment above her father's laundry business, Margaret learned early the values of hard work, perseverance, and the importance of family. She attended UC Berkeley on a full scholarship, graduating magna cum laude in 1970 with a degree in English Literature — the first in her family to earn a college degree. It was there she met David, her husband of 52 years, in the university library over a shared copy of The Great Gatsby. Margaret spent thirty-five years as a high school English teacher in Oakland, where she was known for her infectious enthusiasm for literature and her unwavering belief in every student's potential. Former students still stop her children on the street to say, "Mrs. Chen changed my life." Beyond the classroom, Margaret was an avid gardener, a terrible but enthusiastic baker, and the family's unofficial historian. She spent decades collecting oral histories from Chinatown elders, eventually publishing a small collection of their stories that now resides in the San Francisco Public Library's local history collection. She is survived by her husband David, her three children — Emily, James, and Sophia — and seven grandchildren who called her "Popo." She passed peacefully at home on November 2, 2023, surrounded by the people and the books she loved most.