Beloved scholar: Professor Lý Chánh Trung died on Sunday. He was 88.

HCM CITY — Professor Lý Chánh Trung has died at the age of 88 one month after contracting pneumonia at his house in HCM City.

State officials paid tribute to Trung on Sunday afternoon.

They included Nguyễn Minh Triết, former State President; Lê Thanh Hải, former HCM City Party Committee Secretary; Đinh La Thăng, HCM City Party Committee Secretary; Nguyễn Thiện Nhân, chairman of the Central Committee of Việt Nam Fatherland Front; Huỳnh Đảm, former chairman of the Central Committee of Việt Nam Fatherland Front; and Nguyễn Thị Quyết Tâm, vice secretary of HCM City Party Committee.    

Researcher Nguyễn Đình Đầu, 96, a close friend of Trung, who also joined the ceremony, expressed sadness after hearing about his death.

“We’d known each other since 1952 when Trung studied for a bachelor’s degree in Belgium, then travelled to France for a PhD while I was studying in France. We met at the National Library of France. We wrote some articles together about Việt Nam during this time,” he said.

“At the end of 1954, Trung returned to Sài Gòn (now HCM City), and then Trà Vinh, his hometown. I returned to Sài Gòn in 1954,” he recalled.  

In 1962, when they were part of a Catholic anti-war group in HCM City, they established a newspaper for parishioners, named Sống Đạo (Live Religiously). Trung was the editor-in-chief.

“Trung was an honest intellect. He was an expert in philosophy. He was also a sharp writer and reporter,” he said.

After 1975, Trung was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front, vice chairman of the Committee of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front in HCM City, and deputy of the 6th, 7th and 8th National Assembly.

Lý Chánh Trung made many contributions to the National Assembly. Former Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt also highly appreciated Trung for his talents and contributions, according to Đầu.

Professor Trung was born in 1928 in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Trà Vinh. He was famous abroad as a Vietnamese intellect who opposed the French colonists.

His coffin is kept at his home on 17 Công Lý Street, Bình Thọ Ward, Thủ Đức District. He will be buried at the Hoa Viên Bình Dương Cemetery today. — VNS