Trương Vĩnh Tống

He was born on 11 March 1884 in Chợ Lớn to a family of Catholic Vietnamese intellectuals. His baptismal name was Nicolas. His father was Pétrus Ký, a well known Vietnamese scholar. Since his childhood, he studied in Saigon, after completing his studies in 1903 he went on to serve as a secretary for French Cochinchina government.^[1] In 1928 he was forced to retire.^[2] Afterward, he became a professor and committed to researching and teaching Vietnamese.^[3][4] In 1947, he participated in the meeting of many figures from non-Communist groups and factions in Vietnam in Hong Kong held by the former emperor Bảo Đại. The meeting discussed the political future of Vietnam.^[5] In 1952 he was invited to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Vietnam under the cabinet of Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Tâm. He also served as the core advisor for the Education Ministry. His wife, Trần Thị Lộ , used to be the President of the Dục Anh Association in Saigon to help raise orphans.^[6]

In the early 1960s, Tống migrated to France with his family, where he lived for the remainder of his life.^[7] His wife Trần Thị Lộ died on 20 April 1967.^[8] He died at the age of 90 in Paris, France.