Marshall Ho'o

Dr. Marshall Ho'o (May 6, 1910 – October 2, 1993) was an American practitioner of tai chi and traditional Chinese medicine, known for his pioneering efforts to introduce and promote those healing arts, for which he received numerous awards in recognition of his community service.

After moving to Los Angeles in his late twenties he became active in organized labor, for example helping to start the first company newspaper and first union at Hughes Aircraft while working as an engineer.

[4][5] He partnered in a successful business, the School Days Equipment Company, while continuing his community activism, and also earned a ministerial degree with The Church of England from the University of St Andrews.

By 1949 he was considered a leading member of the Chinese-American community, and was frequently invited by various groups and organizations to give lectures addressing such topics as race relations in America and current events in mainland China.

He sold his share of the school equipment company and moved to Guadalajara in Mexico to convalesce, where he practiced tai chi daily until his health problems began to clear up.

Ho'o took on the management and covered much of the cost for the Los Angeles portion of the tour, a long stay during which Tung taught a full term of tai chi classes.

Under Huang's directive to spread tai chi "far and wide," Ho'o began teaching full-time and started expanding the organization beyond the Chinese community to all American ethnicities.

[4] Ho'o portrayed Chinese doctors and martial arts instructors in the films Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Osterman Weekend, Cannery Row, and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, as well as a Nike commercial.

Premiering in October 1972, T'AI CHI CH'UAN from the Ch'ing Dynasty with Marshall Ho'o was so popular with viewers that by July 1973, KCET started broadcasting it four times a week.

Ho'o and Victoria Mallory appeared in the book's photos and in an accompanying videotape distributed by Ohara as part of the Black Belt Magazine Presents series.

In extensive interviews in 1976, he compared the societies of America and China based on his observations as one of the first Americans to attend the Canton Trade Fair,[23] and in a cover story in the same issue he recounted his experiences with tai chi and his longstanding efforts to promote the art.

He was survived by his wife, Jill Goldstein Ho’o, his younger sister, Elizabeth Bowen (née Hoo), his seven children: Brian, Galen, Maya, China, Tai, Tola and Lincoln, and his granddaughter Emma.