Victor Phu

Victor Phu was a man whose curiosity for language and instinct for conversation carried him through five tongues and half a dozen careers. Mr. Phu was born in Saigon, Vietnam, the second child of Mary Phu and Paul Lam Anh Phu. As a boy, he was slow to speak — he did not say his first words until he was nearly four — but once he found his voice, he never really stopped using it. He went on to speak five languages fluently: French, English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hainanese, moving easily between them depending on who he was talking to and where he happened to be.

As a young man, he studied in France before eventually making his way to the United States, where he earned a graduate degree in linguistics from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Mr. Phu's career reflected the same restlessness and range as his gift for language. He taught French at a junior high school, ran his own restaurant, worked as an administrator for Los Angeles County, sold used cars, and spent his final working years as a clerk with the United States Postal Service. Colleagues and customers alike tended to remember him less for any one job than for the ease with which he talked to them — Mr. Phu could strike up a conversation with almost anyone, and often did.

Friends and family describe him as a man who made friends everywhere he went, whether at the counter of his restaurant, behind a car lot, or standing in line at the post office. He was, above all, a devoted father, and some of his happiest years were spent traveling with his family.

Mr. Phu is survived by his wife, May; his daughter, C.C. and her husband; his granddaughters and their spouses, and one great granddaughter; and his siblings, Frank, Max, David, William, and Linda, and their families.