{"id":300728,"date":"2025-10-13T19:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300728\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:52:09","slug":"chung-soon-hwang-longtime-co-owner-of-chungs-coffee-shop-has-died-at-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300728\/","title":{"rendered":"Chung Soon Hwang, longtime co-owner of Chung\u2019s Coffee Shop, has died at 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chung Soon Hwang, 89, of Cherry Hill<\/a>, longtime co-owner of Chung\u2019s Coffee Shop in Philadelphia, church deaconess, student benefactor, family matriarch, and devoted gardener, died Wednesday, Sept. 24, of complications from organ failure at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hwang and her husband, Oe Tok, arrived in South Jersey from South Korea in 1973. They opened Chung\u2019s Coffee Shop on Germantown<\/a> Avenue near Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia a few years later, and she spent the next 30 years welcoming thousands of breakfast and lunchtime customers and supervising the busy U-shaped front counter.<\/p>\n

Lively and optimistic, friendly and tireless, she oversaw the service staff, handled the customer money flow, and teamed with her husband, the head chef, to set the menu and meet, greet, and serve their diverse crowd of regulars. To North Philadelphia<\/a> neighbors, other local business owners, nearby workers, and now-out-of-towners who kept going back, Mrs. Hwang was the face of the place.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was the personality,\u201d said her son-in-law, Paul Barker. Her daughter Tina said: \u201cShe was disciplined, very smart, and businesslike.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mrs. Hwang kept busy with phone orders as well as walk-ins and spent so much time at the restaurant in North Philly in the 1980s and \u201890s that she wound up sounding like a lifelong resident. One of her signature sayings was: \u201cCoffee, 65 cents. No free refills.\u201d <\/p>\n

She and her husband served up countless chili cheese dogs and cheese steak hoagies, Scrapple and grits. Their three children \u2014 son Don and daughters Tina and Linda \u2014 worked at the shop when they were young, and their granddaughter Morgan said they made the best pancakes and ham breakfast ever.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hwang was at work by 5:30 a.m. most days for the breakfast rush and back home after the lunch crunch often before the kids returned from school. On Sunday\u2019s, they closed the shop and made time for church.<\/p>\n

Her granddaughter Shelly noted her \u201cgrit, hard work, and determination.\u201d She said: \u201cTheir sacrifice laid the foundation for their three children and future generations.\u201d Her granddaughter Morgan said: \u201cShe was truly the heartbeat of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Hwang grew up in Seoul, South Korea. She met Oe Tok Hwang, a native of Japan, in Seoul, and they married in 1960. <\/p>\n

She became a deaconess at the Korean United Church of Philadelphia and a U.S. citizen, and was active with church missionary programs that funded international students. She grew flowers, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, fruit, and other vegetables in her home gardens, and, seemingly ever-present outside, can be seen tending her lawn in a Google maps online photo.<\/p>\n

\u201cChung Soon lived a remarkable life defined by faith, devotion, love, and quiet strength,\u201d her family said in a tribute<\/a>. \u201cBorn with a generous spirit and a heart the size of Korea, she openly welcomed everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chung Soon Kim<\/a> was born Nov. 29, 1935. She grew up with two sisters and two brothers, and showed an early inclination to work and make her own way in the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was savvy and had a sharp sixth sense for who people were,\u201d her son-in-law said. \u201cShe could read a room.\u201d Her daughter Tina said: \u201cShe had incredible gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

She lived in Pennsauken before Cherry Hill and enjoyed entertaining and cooking, especially kimchi and rice. Her family said she created \u201ca sanctuary of love and tradition.\u201d They said: \u201cHer home was always filled with laughter, comfort, and the smell of something delicious.\u201d <\/p>\n

She hosted memorable New Year\u2019s Day parties and invited everyone to her favorite South Jersey restaurants. She watched Korean soap operas and snuck forbidden table scraps to her daughter\u2019s dog. Her husband died in 2011, and her daughter Linda died in 2015<\/p>\n

Neighbors and friends called her \u201cextraordinary\u201d and \u201ckind\u201d in online tributes<\/a>. One friend said: \u201cHeaven has a new head gardener.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her family said: \u201cHer life was a testament to love, perseverance, and faith.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition to her children, Mrs. Hwang is survived by eight grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, a brother, and other relatives. A brother and two sisters died earlier.<\/p>\n

Services were held on Sept. 29 and 30.\t<\/p>\n

Donations in her name may be made to the Korean United Church of Philadelphia<\/a>, 1200 W. Cheltenham Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19126.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chung Soon Hwang, 89, of Cherry Hill, longtime co-owner of Chung\u2019s Coffee Shop in Philadelphia, church deaconess, student…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":300729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,152993,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-300728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-chung-soon-hwang-obituary-philadelphia-cherry-hill-coffee-shop","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115368607355022744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}