We all mourn the passing of David L. Kim, one of the first leaders of the Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Washington, DC public policy community, who was also a historic role model nationally. The National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics (NILE) offers sincere condolences to his wife, Kyungi, his son Turner and his family.
“David will be remembered as the first (non-elected) fighter for the recognition and advancement of the AAPI community. He is the reason the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, with his tremendous effort to endow APAICS with the Anheuser-Busch Fellowship in 1994, at a time when the AANHPI community was an afterthought to most corporations, organizations, Congress and the White House,” stated Jocelyn Hong, NILE President and co-founder of H Street Group, an affiliation of 225 AANHPI Public Policy Advocates and registered lobbyists.
At the time of his passing, David was serving as the President & CEO of The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, the nation’s only nonprofit dedicated to promoting the dignity and well-being of Asian Americans.
David was not only a leader but also an entrepreneur. He was President & CEO of The IAMBIC Group, LLC a marketing and public affairs consulting firm he founded based in the Washington, DC area. He created and facilitated the implementation of reputation management, multicultural marketing, strategic communications, and community relations strategies for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, non-profit and international organizations. He also founded Korean Americans for Political Action (KAPA Action),
In 2021, NILE recognized him with its “President’s Award.” Tommy Goodwin, NILE past President stated, “David Kim was truly one of a kind. Brilliant and strategic while simultaneously passionate and kind, he created a lasting impact for the organizations that he served and the worthy causes that he championed. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him at AARP, and I was honored years later to present him with the NILE President’s Award in recognition of his landmark work co-chairing the NILE Diversity Task Force. NILE, the lobbying profession, and the Korean American and AAPI communities have all suffered a tremendous loss with his passing.”
To continue David’s legacy, NILE is creating a scholarship in his name which will go to support those in underserved communities. David touched so many of us during his lifetime, we want to ensure his work continues through this scholarship.