Sherman Kao

Sherman G. Kao (born September 29, 1918 in Peking (Beijing), China; died April 16, 1993 in Birmingham) was a restaurateur.

Kao grew up in Peking and fled to Hong Kong during the Chinese Revolution of 1949. He immigrated to the United States in 1967 with a referral to Joy Young Restaurant in Birmingham. He worked in the kitchen for five years before saving enough to send for his wife, May and children in 1972. In 1975 he opened his own Mandarin-style restaurant, Sherman Kao's, in West End, soon relocating to the Hillcrest Shopping Center at 112 Green Springs Highway.

Kao suffered from heart disease and closed his restaurant in 1980. Some of his former employees went on to open their own Chinese restaurants, including Jade Palace and Great Wall.

Kao died in 1993 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.

References

• Thrush, Glenn (April 19, 1993) "Well-known entrepreneur dies at 74" Birmingham Post-Herald, p. D2

External links

• Sherman G. Kao at Findagrave.com