Ros Mey

Venerable Ros Mey
Religion	Buddhism
Personal
Nationality	Cambodian-born American
Born	(1925-07-30)July 30, 1925 Svay Rolom, Cambodia
Died	December 12, 2010(2010-12-12) (aged 85) Providence, Rhode Island
Spouse	Saythun Mey (deceased)
Children	7
Senior posting
Predecessor	His Holiness Samdech Maha Ghosananda

Venerable Ros Mey (July 30, 1925 – December 12, 2010) was a Cambodian-born American Buddhist monk and survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime. Mey was the Chov Atika, or head monk, of Wat Thormikaram, the first ethnic Khmer Buddhist temple in the United States, which is located in Providence, Rhode Island.^[1]

Early life in Cambodia

Mey was born in Svay Rolom, Kandal in Cambodia on July 30, 1925. He was the fifth child born to Ouch Mey (his father) and Soeum Mon (his mother), having four older sisters and a younger brother.

In 1945, he married Saythun Mey and sired seven children, three boys and four girls.

Mey originally worked as a land surveyor for the Cambodian government until the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, establishing Democratic Kampuchea.^[1]

Tragedy & Escape

An estimated three million people would be killed by the Khmer Rouge, including four of Mey's children - three daughters and one son.^[2]

Mey and his surviving family managed to escape the country in 1979 and fled to the Khao-I-Dang refugee camp across the border in Thailand.^[1]

Relocation to the United States

Mey and his family would ultimately become one of the thousands of Cambodian refugees who would be resettled in the U.S. state of Rhode Island.^[1] After a few years living as refugees, he and his family arrived in Rhode Island on February 12, 1982.

In 1993, Ros Mey was ordained a Buddhist monk at the Wat Thormikaram temple in Providence, Rhode Island, when he was 62 years old.^[1][2] In 1998, he became Chov Atika & President of the temple.

He died at the temple in Providence on December 12, 2010, at the age of 85.^[1]

References