visible those who would otherwise be invisible by documenting the lives of minority-American cultures and communities. Han Zhang in The New Yorker, summarized the cultural impact of his work as follows: "Lee was to Chinatown what Bill Cunningham was to the sartorialists of Manhattan, and what Roy DeCarava was to post-Renaissance Harlem." Later life David Dinkins, the mayor of New York City at the time, proclaimed May 5, 1988, to be "Corky Lee Day", recognizing Lee's work as an important contribution to New York City communities. Lee regularly supplied his photographs to the weekly local newspapers Downtown Express and The Villager during the 1990s and 2000s. His wife, Margaret Dea, died of cancer around 2001. Lee died at Long Island Jewish Hospital in Forest Hills on January 27, 2021. He was 73, and developed complications of COVID-19 in the time leading up to his death. It was likely that he had become ill from patrolling with neighborhood watch groups, protecting Chinatown from anti-Asian violence. Awards 1993, Photographer-Artist-in-Residence Award, Syracuse University 1993, Special Recognition Award, Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) 2002, New York Press Association Award 2002, Artist-In-Residence, New York University's Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program & Institute 2008, Pioneer Award, Organization of Chinese Americans 2009, Susan Ahn Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Asian American Journalists Association 2014, UC Regents Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles Asian American Studies Center and Department & Luskin School of Public Affairs Urban Planning Department References External links Chinatown Beat a film by Yuko Torihara written and performed by Henry Chang. 1947 births 2021 deaths American artists of Chinese descent People from Queens, New York Photographers from New York (state) Queens College, City University of New York alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) Chinatown, Manhattan 20th-century American photographers 20th-century male artists 21st-century American photographers 21st-century male artists