Remembering Kent Wong

Kent Wong in front of “The House that Kent Built”. UCLA Labor Center photo

Kent Wong died on October 8, 2025. He was sixty-nine years old. The director of the influential UCLA Labor Center for thirty years, he oversaw its expansion from four to forty staff and a corresponding growth in influence in Los Angeles and statewide politics. He was the fierce and effective advocate for expansion of the UC labor centers from two campuses to all of them. His memorial service at L.A. Trade Tech College on November 15 was attended by more than a thousand mourners.—Editor

DSA-LA is deeply saddened by the loss of Kent Wong, a longtime activist and powerful leader in the labor and immigrant rights movements. Kent was a tremendous force for justice, and he leaves behind a strong foundation for us to continue the struggle and apply all that he taught us. Kent was an uncompromising and tireless fighter for workers, immigrants, students, and others of the most vulnerable in our community.

My powerful journey with Kent Wong encompassed most of my adult activist life. I first met Kent in the mid-1990s, when I was Workers’ Rights Project Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). We had started the movement to organize day laborers and I reached out to Kent to ask him for support to connect us with the L.A. labor movement. Since that first encounter, Kent and I embarked on a 30-year journey where he became my close friend, confidant, director and mentor.

Kent believed strongly that there is no greater power than when workers come together and organize. He was one of the early pioneers of integrating immigrant workers to transform the labor movement. You would always find Kent at every picket line, union strike action and major mobilization. For him, holding up a picket sign was a powerful weapon for justice. Kent also embraced and supported the efforts of worker centers and saw them as a part of the labor movement.

As an educator, Kent’s vision was to create the next generation of leaders in the labor, immigrant rights and social justice movements. Through his leadership, we created a Labor Studies Minor that grew into a vibrant B.A. program. Last month, we officially became a Labor Studies Department, the first one in the UC system. Kent had a vision to launch labor centers beyond he existing ones at Berkeley and UCLA. Today, there is a labor center in every UC campus.

On a global level, Kent was much beloved by the labor movements of other countries. He developed solidarity work between the U.S unions with the labor movements in China, Vietnam and Japan. I am grateful to have worked with Kent on a two-year project with the trade unions in Vietnam. I witnessed how much love and solidarity the workers of the world had for Kent.

Mayor Karen Bass, left in blue coat, unveils the sign that will mark a new square in Los Angeles, as Wong’s widow Jai and their two sons look on at Wong’s memorial service. Fred Glass photo

As an immigrant rights activist, Kent was always an uncompromising champion for the young leaders of the Dream activist movement. He worked with undocumented student leaders at UCLA to create IDEAS, the first ever campus student organization to represent them. Kent established the UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC) as part of the Labor Center. The DRC has provided emerging leaders a safe and empowering space to create impactful social, policy, and narrative change. In 2011, Kent worked with young immigrant leaders to launch Dream Summer, the only national fellowship program for undocumented students. Over the past 14 years, Dream Summer has built an alumni network of over 1,000 immigrant rights leaders.

On a personal level, Kent embraced me for who I was – a soft spoken and quiet servant leader who prefers to work from behind the scenes. He always challenged me, however, to step up and make my voice heard whenever the moment called for it. He supported my work with DSA-LA and he believed in its vision of organizing to build a world where everyone can live a life of dignity, free from injustice and capitalist exploitation. Kent represented for me the true meaning of deep camaraderie and radical solidarity.

Our hearts go out to Kent’s family, close friends, and all who were touched by him. Today we
honor Kent, and we continue forward in the path that he created for us to fight for a better world.
Rest in Power, Kent Wong.