Neighborhood House employee Seng Yang knew what it was like to be an outsider in a strange land, so he spent his life making others feel welcome.

Yang died Tuesday in his St. Paul home one month after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 64.

“He was an amazing leader,” said Nancy Brady, president of Neighborhood House, a nonprofit that helps families in transition. “He was very humble. People gravitated toward him — Hmong people, American people, all people.”

His death was a blow for the organization which has seen three other employees die since March.

“We have so much grief,” Brady said.

Yang, an elder in the Hmong community, had been at Neighborhood House for 29 years and had helped to found, and then lead, a group called Hmong Unity. He was planning to retire in March.

Born March 3, 1955, in Luang Prabang, Laos, to Say Lee and Youa Lor Yang, he grew up in a farming community. In 1961, four years before the Vietnam War, the CIA funded a secret war in Laos. The Hmong became the CIA’s surrogate army, fighting to prevent communism from consuming Laos.

Yang had gone to a school where he learned English and later worked as a liaison between the Hmong in refugee camps and the Americans during the Vietnam War. He helped get funding for medical supplies and electricity for the refugees as well, his family said.

When he was 23, he came to the United States and continued to do here what he had done in his home country. He helped refugees get settled and worked to create a sense of community with them by hosting celebrations for Hmong holidays at Neighborhood House and providing food support.

“He cared deeply about community and he dedicated his life to people,” Brady said. “I believe he made an enormous contribution to our country. He’s beloved.”

Shortly after arriving in the U.S., Yang married Ching Yang. They had nine children and 10 grandchildren.

“He loved the kids,” said his daughter Amanda Yang of Oakdale. “He loved joking with them, tossing them in the air and catching them.” He was known for his Thanksgiving turkey and loved to dress up for family occasions.

He attended Metropolitan State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree.

Yang met with late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone and the late Rep. Bruce Vento of St. Paul for a conversation that ultimately led to the passage of the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act, which made citizenship an easier process for the Hmong-American refugees who had aided the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

He traveled to Washington to help get the act passed. When it did in 2000, the Hmong Unity group proudly changed its name to Hmong American Unity. There is a classroom in the Wellstone Center named in honor of the group.

Yang played soccer as a young man and loved watching the Minnesota Vikings. He also enjoyed traditional Thai music. He was a gardener, a traveler, an advocate and a volunteer. He could speak English, Thai, Lao, Hmong, basic Chinese and Spanish.

“He believed in freedom and the American dream,” said his daughter Eileen Yang.

Those learning of his death on Facebook described him as a mentor who was generous, selfless, joyful, always friendly and welcoming.