18 Facts About Rosalyn Koo

Rosalyn Chin-Ming Koo was a Chinese-American philanthropist.

Rosalyn Koo served as Executive Vice President of MBT Associates, an architectural firm listed in the 1980s as one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in America, for 30 years.

Rosalyn Koo has served in non-profits that assist senior citizens, such as Self-Help for the Elderly, in California, and those which assist girls trying to attain an education in China, through such organizations as The 1990 Institute and the All-China Women's Federation.

Rosalyn Koo has been the recipient of numerous honors and was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Rosalyn Koo Chin-Ming Chen was born in 1926 in Shanghai, China.

Rosalyn Koo transferred to UC Berkeley and earned a degree in economics in 1953.

In 1958, Rosalyn Koo joined the architectural firm MBT Associates in the San Francisco Bay area, which had been founded in 1954.

Rosalyn Koo served as Chief Financial Officer and was the only principal of the firm who was not an architect.

In 1978, Rosalyn Koo returned to China for the first time and made contact with a former principal at her alma mater, then known as Shanghai Public High School No 3.

Rosalyn Koo committed that overseas investors would be found if the principal could convince the government to return the school to an all-girls facility.

Rosalyn Koo soon joined her efforts with financing programs offered by The 1990 Institute and pledged to help 1,000 girls finish primary school.

In 2000, Rosalyn Koo toured western China visiting the provinces of Gansu, Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Rosalyn Koo returned each year to measure the girls' progress and soon extended the scholarship funds to secondary schooling.

In 2008, after the earthquake in Sichuan Province, Rosalyn Koo extended her commitment to including girls in Sichuan Province as well.

Since their school buildings had been destroyed, Rosalyn Koo partnered with Jennifer Devlin of EHDD in San Francisco, to build a seismically safe school to replace three which had been damaged by the quake.

In 2007, Rosalyn Koo was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame for her contributions to sustainable living.

Rosalyn Koo was advocating for the City of San Mateo to develop a center for the 1000 senior citizens who would be affected by closure of their current facility.

Rosalyn Koo died on January 30,2021, in San Mateo, California, from kidney failure.