A LIFE OF ACTION
“There are, more or less, three kinds of people in the world. There are those who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen and there are those folks who so often say, ‘What happened?’”
Although Jhoon Goo Rhee spoke those words to me nearly 30 years ago, they might just as well have been said yesterday because they’re set in stone in my mind. Rhee was most certainly the kind of man who made things happen. In his 86 years, he made so many things happen — important things, things that have affected millions of people — that it puts him firmly in the company of the greatest masters in martial arts history.
Rhee passed away on April 30, 2018. He died, according to his daughter Dr. Meme Rhee, of complications from post-herpetic neuralgia. His passing represents the end of an era in American martial arts history — as he is credited with not only bringing taekwondo to the United States but also being instrumental in the cultivation and development of many aspects of the martial arts we take for granted.
I was fortunate to meet and befriend grandmaster Rhee when I was in my mid-20s. There are many other people who knew him longer, who knew him better and who had more time
