Urgent Support for Michael Ium's Mom
Donation protected
We are extremely sad to announce that our friend, Michael Ium, suddenly passed away in Vienna, Austria at the age of 41 on Wednesday, April 9th.
We are raising funds to help his mom offset the sudden enormous financial burden during this difficult time.
What is needed?
Landing a permanent, stable job in academia, requires many personal sacrifices at the start due to its transient nature and the lack of well-paid jobs. Michael worked very hard for many years while earning relatively little in order to make his mark. He had just begun a promising position in Vienna in January 2025 and was at the start of accomplishing his professional goals before his sudden passing.
Unfortunately, his mom Young Hee, now has to shoulder the difficulties of losing a son in the peak of his life, going to Vienna to bring his body back to Toronto, sorting out his affairs in Canada and abroad, and emotionally and financially face life without him.
The funds raised will be for:
- the maintenance costs of caring for Michael’s remains in Vienna
- Young Hee’s living costs for the next two to three weeks in Vienna awaiting the Canadian Embassy & funeral homes to arrange transfer (all expenses in Euros)
- travel expenses and shipping Michael’s belongings to Toronto
- funeral in Toronto
- general future support for Mrs. Young Hee Ium; while in Toronto, Michael lived with his mom and helped her with living expenses
Despite his accomplishments, Michael’s life was marked by great challenges. He was born and raised with his brother in the Scarborough area of Toronto as children of first-generation South Korean immigrants. His family always lived modestly and his father sadly passed away in 2019. Michael was very close to his mom, Young Hee. He returned from California to live with her during the pandemic and while completing his postdoc at University of Toronto. She was very supportive and proud of him and often extended that love to his friends in Toronto by making homemade Korean food to share. Michael was always proud to bring his mom on his journeys and was always thinking of ways to give her and his late dad happiness. He openly shared with his friends the dream of supporting his mom with all that she needed. So we are hoping to offset the sudden enormous financial burden of Michael’s passing for Young Hee.
We will be direct transferring all the money to Mrs. Ium, and posting regular updates when this is done.
Thank you for reading. Michael never hesitated to show up for a friend, so any amount of support is greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Erika MacLaughlin, Lynn Zhu, Patrick Lambelet, Shyam Sriram and Suzanne Fernando
P.S. Michael’s academic and professional contributions as remembered by his postdoctoral fellowship institutions and alma mater:
Co-organizers (2)
Suzanne Fernando
Organizer
Scarborough, ON
Lynn Zhu
Co-organizer