Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940 in the year of the Dragon while his father
was on tour with the Chinese Opera. Lee was raised, however, in Hong Kong where he began his first
formal training in martial arts with Wing Chun Master, Yip Man when he was 13. At the age of 18,
Bruce Lee returned to United States and attended the University of Washington in Seattle where, as a
philosophy student, he began to train students in the art of Chinese Gung Fu. Lee met his wife Linda
during this time and opened his first school, the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. Lee later opened
schools in Oakland and Los Angeles while he and Linda raised their son, Brandon, and daughter,
Shannon. Lee quickly began to develop new ideas about martial arts and training based on many of his
experiences, leading him to the creation of his own art called Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee went on to
train many private celebrity students, such as Steve McQueen and James Coburn, and became a
celebrity in his own right with his entree into America media via The Queen Hornet and, of course,
his later films, which catapulted him to iconic status. Bruce Lee's life, however, was cut short
when he died on July 30, 1973 in Hong Kong from a cerebral edema caused by an allergic reaction to a
pain medication. Lee was 32.
His final resting place is Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.