Jeanne Tai

Benedict Tai

Benedict (Ben) Tai
April 18, 1956 – August 30, 2026

Ben passed away on August 30, 2026, in Kona, HI, at the age of 70.

Born in Hong Kong on April 18, 1956, he emigrated to the United States with his family in 1969. He attended high school in Atlanta, GA, and was active in the nascent environmental movement. He helped organize the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, and was recognized by Governor Jimmy Carter as a promising young environmental leader.

Ben came down with polio when he was two years old. That left him with a weak and shortened right leg. This handicap did not deter him from participating in sports and adventures. He loved canoeing, camping and playing chess (western, Chinese and Go). Later in life, he needed crutches and a painful knee brace to maintain his mobility. He was determined to postpone dependence on a wheelchair.

He attended Brandeis University and continued his activism on environmental issues as well as advocacy for ethnic studies, and the global non-aligned movement. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1986 and began his legal career in New York with Simpson Thacher. He later moved to Hong Kong in 1992 to help inaugurate the firm’s Hong Kong office.

He subsequently practiced law for many years with Jones Day in its Hong Kong and Beijing offices before retiring in 2019 to join his family in Kona, Hawaii. He loved to cook and enjoyed entertaining friends and neighbors with hearty, elaborate meals. In retirement, he was also fond of watching Korean dramas on television and driving his pickup truck all over the Big Island.

Ben was no saint. He could be infuriating as well as charming. He will be remembered for his wit, fondness for practical jokes, curiosity, and generosity.

He is survived by his wife, Jane; his daughter, Nicole; and his sisters, Jeanne and Wenda. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to The Orphaned Starfish Foundation (https://www.osf.org/).

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