By Jonathan Morales

May 31, 2024

Roger Fong was probably going to be a mechanic. Or maybe he’d join his brothers working on the family farm. Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to college.

“Then my buddy Gordy said, ‘Hey Fong, why don’t you come to junior college and run track with me?’ ” Fong said. “I thought that was a pretty good idea because I had no other plans.

“When he decided to go to Sac State, I just followed him.”

Though he may have entered college as a follower, he left it to become a community leader, a role he has embraced throughout a decades-long career in public service and banking.

“I owe my whole career, which is very comfortable today, entirely to my four-year college degree.” -- Roger Fong

Fong, the child of Chinese immigrants, made history in 1986 when he became the nation’s first Asian American elected county assessor. After retiring from Sacramento County in 1999, he continued his career as a co-founder of Five Star Bank. He has been a philanthropist and advocate, especially for Sacramento’s Chinese and Asian communities, cementing his legacy as a leader and role model.

He credits his professional success to the education he received at Sacramento State.

“Without a college degree, I would have had no career,” he said. “Without a college degree, I couldn’t have taken the exam for assistant real property appraiser or even be a social worker. Without the degree, I wouldn’t have been able to become the assessor. Without becoming the assessor, I wouldn’t have been able to go into banking.

“I owe my whole career, which is very comfortable today, entirely to my four-year college degree.”

Born in 1933 in Sacramento’s since-demolished West End, Fong spent his childhood days wandering the neighborhood now occupied by Capitol Mall and venturing across Tower Bridge with his friends to play in the sand dunes and shoot BB guns.

“It was a carefree, independent life because our parents were always working,” he said.

His brothers planned to follow their father, who retired early, into farming. But Fong bucked tradition when he became the first in his family to obtain a four-year degree, transferring to Sac State from Sacramento City College and graduating in 1956 with a degree in Business Administration.

Fong ran track at Sac State his first year at Sac State. At the same time, the campus began recruiting for its first boxing team.

“I was always a big boxing fan, so I tried out,” he said. “I was a raw amateur, I’d never boxed before in my life. I tried out for the team and made the varsity team.”

After graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he spent two years and boxed competitively. Following his military service, and without any specific career goals, he found a job as a county social worker, the start of a decades-long career in public service.

At a coworker’s suggestion, he took a county assessor’s office exam to become an assistant real property appraiser. He passed the test, working his way up the career ladder until, in 1986, he ran for county assessor and won.

As someone who grew up in a family barred from buying a home outside of certain, limited segments of the city, and whose childhood home was among the many razed in the name of urban development, the significance of being in a position so critical to property ownership was not lost on him.

“I was the first Asian and the first minority to ever run and successfully win a countywide office,” Fong said. “It gave me an interesting perspective on real estate, because in the old days, there were clauses in the deeds stating that unless you were Caucasian, you could not buy real estate outside of what’s considered the old city, Broadway to the American River to the Sacramento River. That’s the only place we could live.”

Following a 13-year tenure in which he was credited with modernizing and improving the assessor’s office, Fong retired as assessor in 1999, ending a nearly four-decade career in public service. He then turned to the private sector, becoming the founding chairman of the Roseville-based Five Star Bank, where he worked for 12 years before retiring for good. He settled on a 50-acre Clarksburg farm with his wife Florence, who died in 2023.

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Throughout his career, he was active in the community as an advocate for Chinese and Asian Americans in Sacramento. He was a founding member of the Chinese American Council of Sacramento, giving voice to underserved and underrepresented groups. He also actively contributed to the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation and the Asian Pacific Islander American Association, and held board positions with KVIE, the Sacramento Symphony, St. Hope Academy and United Way.

His commitment to community grew out of his experiences as a Chinese American who felt the sting of racism even late into his career.

“We lived through so much discrimination,” Fong said. “There was still a lot of discrimination even when I ran for office in 1986. The community was so helpful in supporting me, I just always felt that I want to give back to the community every chance I get.”

Fong has also returned to his alma mater frequently, most recently during the 2024 Commencement as a recipient of an honorary doctorate from Sac State and California State University.

“Roger's life has been one of perseverance, hard work and unwavering commitment to community,” Sac State President Luke Wood said at an April ceremony honoring Fong, before calling him “a trailblazer, a leader, a role model who continues to inspire us all.”

These days, Fong has come full circle in a way, just like the farm he worked on as a teen. He doesn’t tend the 50 acres himself – he has a tenant who mostly handles that – but he manages the fruit trees and plants and grows his favorite vegetables. All of the food is consumed or shared with friends and family, and visitors who come at the right time might find themselves leaving with a gift basket.

“They say you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy,” he said.

The Sacramento kid who never planned to go to college but nevertheless found himself an influential and respected community and business leader said his advice to current Sac State students is to aim high and get out of their comfort zone.

“Think of what you want to be,” Fong said. “But when opportunity presents itself, even if it puts you in an uncomfortable position, go for it.”