April 28--A former North Shore man known for his adventurous spirit and passion for travel was among the four Americans killed in an avalanche at the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal, state department officials and his family have confirmed.
Vinh Truong, 48, a former Wilmette resident and 1984 graduate of New Trier High School, had moved in recent years to California, where he worked as an IT consultant for Kaiser Permanente, his brother Hanh Truong said.
"It seems like years ago, but it was just Sunday when we started getting calls from the State Department, which we at first thought were pranks," Hanh Truong said. "But when we were told that it looked like my brother was one of the victims, we knew it was true, because he had been touring in the area."
Born in Saigon in 1966, Vinh Truong was raised as one of four children in a Vietnamese-American immigrant family in Wilmette, where he was a member of his high school's radio club and cross country team, Hanh Truong said.
After earning an undergraduate degree in engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Vinh Truong attended the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where officials there said he received an MBA in 2006.
"He was always a good student, but he had many deep relationships with a wide circle of friends," Hanh Truong said.
In recent years, Vinh Truong had achieved many of his personal goals, Hanh Truong said, including running marathons and recently visiting Austin's South-by-Southwest festival.
"Although we are dealing with the tragedy of my brother's passing, our family wants people to know that there are people who are still alive in Nepal who need our help," he said. "We've gotten a lot of support from our friends, but we want to put the focus on saving the living first, and we can mourn those who passed later."
Michelle Fennessy said she met Truong at the University of Chicago.
She said she had been following her old friend's dream trip from afar.
On Thursday, Truong shared a video from his journey in Nepal and told Facebook friends he was setting out for the Mount Everest base camp.
"To me, there was just no way he could have died on that mountain," Fennessy told The Los Angeles Times. "He is just such a survivor."
Christine Mai-Duc of the Los Angeles Times contributed.
kcullotta@tribpub.com
