Munty Pot, of Lowell, MA
June 5, 1966 - September 6, 2008
<< Photo and information provided by Samkhann Khoeun, friend of the late Munty Pot.
Munty Pot born on June 5, 1966 in Bati district, Takeo province, Cambodia, deceased on Saturday September 6, B.E.2552, C.E.2008 Year of the Rat in United States of America.
Photo and information provided by Samkhann Khoeun, friend of the late Munty Pot
“It is with great sadness that I tell you Munty Pot passed away on Saturday morning. He had complications from a previous medical condition. Munty was a sub-contractor working with me at the Senior Center on two grant funded projects. Munty was well known in the Cambodian Community. He was 42, has a 9 year old son and his wife is expecting their second child. He was instrumental in helping me with his role with Lowell Seniors Count and in assisting our Cambodian Elders. He was a good friend, a fine man and a leader in the Cambodian Community.” Lynne Brown-Zones, Executive Director, Lowell Senior Center
Mr. Munty Pot passed away on Saturday September 6, 2008 at around 8:00 AM at Lowell General Hospital, Massachusetts United States due to medical complication, an aneurism. His abruptly passing away is the tremendous loss to his surviving family members including his wife, Sophy Diep, who is 7-month pregnant with their second child, his 9-year old son, Phoenix Pot, and members of his immediate families, including his father, brothers and sisters. Both his wife and his son along with an unborn child will be facing tremendous difficulties with this lost of a husband, a father, and a breadwinner.
A family Memorial fund is being set up at the Enterprise Bank to help his family, his wife, his son and the unborn baby to cope with financial challenges and uncertain future.
Please kindly support the Pot family by donating whatever amount you can. Please make your check payable and send to:
Munty Pot Family Fund
Enterprise Bank
222 Merrimack Street
Lowell, Massachusetts 01852
Munty Pot a loss for Lowell, Cambodian community
By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
Last Updated: 09/12/2008 08:17:56 AM EDT
<< Munty Pot works on the weekly WUML radio program he created, Voice of Cambodian Children. Courtesy Photo
LOWELL -- He was an invaluable bridge between old and young, immigrant Cambodians and their American neighbors, the essential link that allowed many of the Mill City's social-service agencies to break through language and cultural barriers to provide services to the Cambodian community.
His work was far from done.
On Sept. 6, Munty Pot died at Lowell General Hospital, the victim of an aneurysm. He was 42 and leaves his 9-year-old son Phoenix and wife of 11 years, Sophy Diep, who is 7 months pregnant with the couple's second son.
In his capacity as a community-health outreach worker for the Cambodian community through the Lowell Community Health Center and Lowell Senior Center, as well as having worked for both the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association and Coalition for a Better Acre, Pot not only connected immigrants with services, but also became a liaison between the existing organizations.
Lynne Brown Zounes, executive director of the Lowell Senior Center, said yesterday morning she found two Cambodian elders praying in front of Pot's office at the center. They were unaware of his death until reading the notice, written in Khmer, posted on the door.
"He was their voice, their bridge to services, eliminating the language barrier," said Brown Zounes, adding that Pot could be found nearly every day eating lunch with the seniors. "They are truly devastated."
When Brown Zounes came to Lowell four years ago, there were few Cambodian elders active in the Senior Center. Today, there are 197, a figure Brown Zounes said is a testament to Pot's dedication and ability to help older Cambodians understand the benefits of the center.
As a child, Pot was separated from his family and forced into working hard labor by the communist Khmer Rouge regime. He was only given small amounts of food and slept in a wet fabric hammock with his younger brother.
Under heavy gunfire and facing the threat of a landscape dotted with landmines, he and his two brothers successfully fled in 1979 to a Thai refugee camp, where he sold bread.
In 1981, Pot and his family were able to immigrate to Minnesota.
He and Sophy settled in Lowell in 1998, moving here from Ohio.
At the time, Samkhann Khoeun was the executive director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association. He hired Pot, who held a master's degree in health education, to work on the Cambodian Community 2010 project, designed to educate community members about diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"He was just so nice, down-to-earth and approachable, really able to bridge so many gaps," Khoeun recalled. "We did not expect him to die so young. He was very fit and full of life."
Dorcas Grigg-Saito, CEO of the Lowell Community Health Center, said Pot possessed an unusual combination of skills that are hard to replicate.
"Having the academic health-education background, in addition to really understanding the Cambodian culture and community, was very important to helping those of us who are not Cambodian understand the strengths and needs of the culture, as well as getting our message across," Grigg-Saito said. "He was so dedicated and had such a solid approach to the world, the rare person who is calm, yet passionate."
It was that calm demeanor, said Andrea Laskey of LCHC, that made Pot invaluable.
"He really listened to people and cared about their concerns," she said.
Most recently, Pot was spending his time going door-to-door as part of the Senior Center's Seniors Count program, an effort to reach out to all of the city's 15,000 senior citizens, address their concerns and educate them about available services.
"Munty went to all of the Cambodian homes," Brown Zounes said. "I don't know how we will do this without him. Munty will be missed by the entire city of Lowell. This is not just a Cambodian thing. He had a good heart and truly cared about people, all people."
A fund has been established at Enterprise Bank to benefit Pot's family. Donations can be sent to: Munty Pot Family Fund, Enterprise Bank, 222 Merrimack St., Lowell, MA 01852.
