When Henry Huong Le and his family arrived in San Jose in the late 70s seeking refuge from the war in Vietnam, they had little to their name. But the purchase of a modest catering truck in 1981 would change that for generations to follow.

Le, who helped grow the popularity of traditional Vietnamese sandwiches into a multimillion-dollar empire that revolutionized the local Vietnamese food industry, died Thursday in San Jose.

The community leader, human rights advocate, philanthropist and co-founder of San Jose-based Lee’s Sandwiches lost a short battle with stage four liver cancer. He died just four days before his 59th birthday.

Within the Vietnamese community in Santa Clara County, Le was not only a symbol of “rags-to-riches” success but someone who touched others with his genuine warmth and extensive acts of charity.

“He would’ve wanted people to know that he was a humble man that did the best that he could and gave of himself as much as he could. Really, that’s his legacy,” said Ryan Hubris, a close friend of Le’s for more than 40 years and a former employee of Lee’s Sandwiches.

Hubris said Le didn’t know he had cancer until a few months ago when he became ill during a vacation cruise. Originally, doctors gave Le a year to live, but he died about three months after his diagnosis, Hubris said.

“He was still so strong and active. The bulk of his days were spent outdoors. Nobody thought that he was sick,” Hubris added.

Le was born in Thot Not, An Giang, Vietnam, to parents Le Van Ba and Nguyen Thi Hanh. He was the second eldest of nine children.

Like many others in San Jose’s large Vietnamese community, the family fled their homeland by boat and came to California after the war. Le’s brother, Chieu Le, worked on a catering truck before buying his own truck in 1981. That investment led to Lee Bros. Foodservice, Inc., which Henry and Chieu established the following year. They grew that into the largest industrial catering company in Northern California.

On weekends, their parents used the catering truck to sell Vietnamese-style sandwiches to students and residents near San Jose State. Those weekend sales led to the creation of Lee’s, now the world’s largest chain of banh mi sandwich shops. (In naming the shop, the brothers added a second “e” to their last name so that customers would know how to pronounce it.) The family now owns more than 60 shops throughout the U.S. and recently expanded into Taiwan.

In recent years, Le had taken on a less active role with the company, acting more as an adviser on operations, according to Hubris.

A devout Buddhist, he often donated to temples throughout San Jose, according to friends. He served as president of the Vietnamese Heritage Society and was a founding member of the Vietnamese-American National Gala, an organization aimed at uniting Vietnamese-Americans and creating greater visibility for the community.

But it was Le’s work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that many community members point to. Le opened his office in Biloxi, Mississippi, to displaced victims of the storm even though he too had lost many properties in the devastating 2005 hurricane.

“He was literally empty-handed,” said Hubris. “But instead of being bitter or devastated by the loss, what he did was reach out to the community and recognize how fortunate he was. It wasn’t about his needs, it was about the needs of others. It really formulated a lot of life lessons for me as I moved forward in my life,” he added.

Madison Nguyen also remembers Le’s compassion.

“You saw a kindness in him that you don’t often see in the environment that we’re in right now,” said Nguyen, a former San Jose city councilwoman who is running for state assembly and considers Le a mentor. “When you see that sort of kindness displayed in someone, you constantly want to be around them.”

Le is survived by his wife, Dep Nguyen, and three children, Diana, Brian and Cindy. He also leaves behind his mother, Nguyen Thi Hanh, eight siblings, and 19 nieces and nephews. Family members could not be reached for comment.