Quách Nhứt Danh, often referred to as Danh Quach or Danh Nhut Quach, is a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth largest Asian Ame ...

businessman and one of the "pioneers" of Orange County's

Little Saigon Little Saigon () is a name given to ethnic enclaves of overseas Vietnamese, expatriate Vietnamese mainly in English-speaking countries. (). Saigon is the former name of the capital of the former South Vietnam (now Ho Chi Minh City), where a lar ...

Early life

He was a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, but fled in 1975 with his wife, nine-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and sister, after the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

brought the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

to an end. He first settled in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Fort Chaffee Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center, also known as Fort Chaffee, is an Arkansas Army National Guard Military base, installation located in western Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Fort Smith. Established as Camp C ...

region before moving to Lincoln,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, to attend

pharmacy school The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is often an undergraduate or postgraduate pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In many countries, this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a bachelor of ...

again at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Medical Center, from which he graduated in May 1977. Following his graduation, he lived briefly in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, but eventually gravitated to

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, due to the warmer weather and friends who had preceded him there.

Business in Southern California

He opened his pharmacy on Bolsa Avenue in Orange County,

, in 1978, selling not only medicine, but electrical appliances, bicycle seats, and a variety of other goods; less than 10 years after his arrival, he had already achieved financial success. He soon branched out into other businesses, including freight forwarding; by 1988, he was sending 10,000 pounds of goods to Vietnam each month, a business fueled by the U.S.

embargo Economic sanctions or embargoes are commercial and financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of coercion that attempts to get an actor to change its behavior throu ...

against Vietnam, which led Vietnamese Americans to send much-needed supplies to their relatives who remained in Vietnam. By 1989, he had taken money earned from his small business success to become a real estate investor; his pharmacy would become the heart of

. Eventually, he shrank his original store to about a third of its former size in order to make room for his son to move his medical practice in next door.

Flag controversy

Beginning in January 1999, he became involved in a political controversy when he served a 30-day eviction notice to a tenant in a shopping center he owned for inciting a nuisance there. The tenant was displaying a photo of

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

and a

flag of Vietnam The national flag of Vietnam, formally the National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( Vietnamese: ), locally recognized as the golden-starred red banner () or the Fatherland flag (), was designed in 1940 and used during a failed commun ...

in the window of his video store; angered by the store owner's pro-Communist display, local residents protested outside of the store for four days before a judge ruled that the store owner had to take down the picture and flag. However, a

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

judge reversed the decision the following month. The tenant required an escort of one hundred police officers to take him to his store the following day and protect him from protesters while he rehung the flag. The tenant, disappointed that his landlord, the police, and the city of Westminster had "failed to protect isfree speech rights", filed another lawsuit against them a year later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quach, Danh 1939 births Living people Vietnamese emigrants to the United States People from Westminster, California University of Nebraska Medical Center alumni