MSU commemorates the late I-Ho Pomeroy with honorary doctorate

I-Ho Pomeroy, owner of local restaurant I-Ho’s Korean Grill, former city commissioner and cherished community member, passed away peacefully in her home on March 12. 

Her absence has been felt by those who knew and loved her, and it was recently announced that she would receive an posthumous honorary doctorate in humane letters at spring commencement from MSU.

“When an individual is considered for an honorary doctorate, what happens is a nomination will go forward from anyone in the community, and then that nomination is reviewed by a committee that involves a whole bunch of faculty members who will forward that community member’s name on to a vote among the general faculty, and then upon the recommendation of the faculty and the president, the nomination then goes on to the Board of Regents and the Montana University System who will eventually vote on the nominations,” university spokesperson Michael Becker said. 

I-Ho's nomination was submitted and reviewed at the most recent meeting in March with a letter of support written by MSU President Waded Cruzado. “The president has known I-Ho for a while, and I think everyone who’s lived in Bozeman for a while has heard of her and is familiar with the philanthropy and community support and the community service that she’s put into this town, and her support of MSU,” Becker said.

I-Ho will be honored at one of the two graduation services this coming May with a video of interviews from those who knew her to properly celebrate her contributions to Bozeman and MSU. I-Ho was the first immigrant and woman of color to serve on Bozeman's city commission. She frequently spoke on entrepreneurship panels on campus. “She was known for her generosity, for her humanity and her empathy for others, for her long run of raising money for different causes — disaster relief, charities — through her restaurant,” Becker said.

“You know how when you’re in school everybody tells you that you can make a difference in people’s lives, you know, be nice to everybody because you don’t know if they’re having a hard time and you might make a positive impact on people’s life? She lived that. She made a positive impact on people that she never even met,” Pomeroy’s daughter, Jin-Ju Jahns said. 

Jahns says that the family has been receiving a massive amount of support from the community. “We’re getting cards now, from friends and family, as well as people who never even met her, but still somehow people were impacted by her life in Bozeman and they’re really lovely cards,” Jahns said. 

Bozeman has so much to thank I-Ho for, after all her service to the city. “She’s just been there as such an integral part of Bozeman’s community for so long and she’s contributed a lot and this honorary degree recognizes that; it’s the highest honor MSU can bestow and I’m very glad to be able to give it to her,” Becker said. 

Jahns hopes that people can remember her mother by learning a thing or two from her. “Try to live like she did, always try to find the good in other people, always be respectful and kind, stay positive, and she always believed that the world is a good place. Our world is a bit depressing at the moment, and I think it’s quite easy to find the negative, but even at the end, she was still finding a way to laugh and find joy every day,” Jahns said.