Please help Alex Fong have a dignified burial

When an old friend unexpectedly leaves us, a piece of our heart is forever broken…

It is with a very heavy heart that we are sharing the sudden loss of a dear friend, Alex Fong on February 21st, 2023. He passed away alone in the hospital from a cardiac arrest. Unfortunately no one has been able to locate his next of kin. We are absolutely devastated & obviously unprepared for this loss, and the high costs associated with funeral and private burial arrangements. Therefore a group of us (mutual friends who consider Alex as a dear friend) rallied together in hope of raising $15,000 in order to give Alex a dignified burial service, and a peaceful resting place that we truly feel he deserves — but we need your help financially to reach this arduous goal.

If you are able to, please consider making a generous donation towards Alex’s funeral service fundraiser.

“We need to grieve the ones we have loved and lost in this lifetime—not to sustain our connection to suffering, but to sustain our connection to love.”

Special Note:

As Alex did not have a living will, and no one has been able to locate any family members, the NY Public Administrator (PA) office is currently involved in the investigation of Alex’s next kin as well as any beneficiary of his estate. In the event that funds from Alex’s estate are recovered by the PA to cover the associated funeral expenses, then we will not utilize the money from your generous donations toward his final place of rest arrangements, and would be able to return your donated amount to your accounts, without incurring a service fee (or if you do not need the money refunded, and would like us to donate it to a charity that Alex was involved with, we would be happy to do so on your behalf.). Unfortunately at this time, we do not have a definitive timeline as to when the PA office will complete these investigations (it can take anywhere between 2-3 months to complete.)

Bereavement Arrangements Committee Members: Dave Wang, Xue Yi Zhen, Ed Leung, Adrienne Bin V. and Winnie Tsui

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Obituary:

”A true friend is never truly gone. Their spirit lives on in the memories of those who loved them.” ~ Unknown.

It is with great sadness to announce the loss of our beloved friend Alex Fong who passed alone on Feb. 21, 2023 at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.

Alex was 54 years old, and most recently worked as an IT consultant. Prior to that, he was a public servant specializing in the area of Human Resources for many years, at the Fund for the City of New York non-profit agency.

Alex was an active and vital member of the local Asian-American community for many years. He contributed selflessly in community service that benefited the wider New York City Chinese community by volunteering for the Chinese Staff and Workers Association. He was also an active participant of a 1996 hunger strike campaign, Kwong Hui’s District 1 City Council campaign. Alex loved the arts and theater scene in NYC, and was actively involved in the Asian Cinevision’s Asian-American International Film Festival over the years. He also gave countless hours volunteering for the City Volunteer Corps (New York City’s version of the Peace Corps), and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse public kayaking program.

Funeral services and burial arrangements are usually highly time sensitive, due to the nature of the decaying of the body, it is with high hopes that we can raise the total amount of needed in order to give Alex a respectable private memorial service, funeral and burial ceremony that he deserves within a period of 14 days (in the case that the PA office cannot secure the funds from his estate to cover these expenses.). Therefore, we need all the help we can get from all of Alex’s friends to commit to this goal & ensure a dignified burial for Alex, in the event that New York county is unable to secure sufficient assets from Alex’s estate to fund a private burial arrangement.

In the event that insufficient funds raised, and Alex’s estate moneys are not released, the New York county public administrator stated that they would be forced to proceed with an “undignified public burial” without even a headstone in place, at the New York City’s potter’s field of Hart Island. This would be the most undeserving burial service for Alex, and an outcome which we desperately would like to avoid as these burials are stacked bodies in mass grave pits without any form of monument or signage of the deceased. Moreover, public visitations to Hart Island are limited, and only allowed twice a month. For all his friends who knew Alex, we are very much saddened by the possibility that he would be buried in a mass graveyard, in a nameless field with all the forgotten souls in Potter’s Field on Hart Island as a final resting place.

Please consider donating generously if you are able to do so. We are very grateful for every donation during this difficult time