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Tu Thanh Ha / Globe and Mail National Published on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010 2:32PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010 3:01PM EST
Tran Trieu Quan was not a household name but when the 57-year-old Quebec
City man went missing in the wake
His remains have been identified in the rubble of a Port-au-Prince hotel,
his family announced in a statement Saturday
An engineer and entrepreneur, Mr. Quan was also a Taekwondo grand master
and president of one of the sport's ruling bodies.
What happened is a great tragedy. He was appreciated by a lot of
people, said Roy Rolstad, a Taekwondo instructor in
He was a very wise, wise man, with lots of knowledge, not only about
Taekwondo but about life, said Norberto Taveras, an
He was looking forward to it, he felt it was a country that needed
help, said former Nova Scotia premier Russell MacLellan,
Mr. Quan was also a survivor of Vietnam's brutal penal system. In 1994, he
was jailed in his native country over a commercial He had to fight other inmates who threatened his life. He was chained 14 hours a day. He lost 35 pounds.
However, he was released after pressure from Canada and a massive outpouring
of sympathy in Quebec City, just months Mr. Quan would later say that Taekwondo gave him the strength to survive his ordeal.
It was a terrible strain, always to have to be on your guard. You needed
absolute control over yourself. . . . You had to be
Mr. Quan first learned Taekwondo when he was a teen in wartime Vietnam. South
Vietnam was one of the first countries
By 17, Mr. Quan had earned a black belt and was teaching Taekwondo in his
high school, under the tutelage of one of the
The war exacted a heavy toll on Mr. Quan's family. His eldest brother died
in a B-52 bombing in 1968. His parents and of Mr. Quan had been living in Quebec City since 1970 after studying mechanical engineering at Laval University.
He opened several Taekwondo schools, organized tournaments and was active
in making the martial art popular in Quebec.
After Gen. Choi died in 2002, Mr. Quan succeeded him as president of the
International Taekwondo Federation, one of the
He was dedicated to introducing Taekwondo among the poorer communities
of Quebecd and the world to give young
Mr. Quan is survived by his wife Nguyen Thi My and two daughters and a son,
Joliette, Cecilia and Nicolas, all of them
Mr. Quan's remains will be returned to Canada Sunday, on Lunar New Year,
traditionally the most festive time for people |
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