UNC Asheville Dedicates Memorial Garden to Craft Beer Pioneer Oscar Wong

UNC Asheville dedicated the Oscar Wong Memorial Garden on April 23 outside the McCullough Institute in Karpen Hall, turning a campus space into a place for reflection and gathering while honoring one of Asheville’s most influential civic figures.

The garden recognizes Oscar Wong not just as the founder of Highland Brewing Company, but as the “Godfather of Asheville craft beer,” a title that points to his deeper footprint on the city’s economy and identity. Highland says Wong started the brewery in 1994 using refurbished dairy equipment in the basement of Barley’s Taproom, opening Asheville’s first craft brewery since Prohibition and helping lay the groundwork for the regional brewing scene that followed.

Wong’s influence reached far beyond beer. He served two terms on the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees and received an honorary degree from the university in 2024, a sign of how closely his business success and civic commitments were tied to the campus community. UNC Asheville described him as an entrepreneur, community leader, visionary and longtime supporter of the school.

Chancellor Kimberly van Noort said Wong believed deeply in education and community, and that his support reflected a commitment to opportunity. Leslie McCullough Casse said Wong was adored by all who knew him, was inspiring as a leader and left indelible footprints that are impossible to fill.

Wong died on May 25, 2025, at age 84, at his home in Asheville. Highland said he was born on Oct. 21, 1940, the son of Chinese immigrants in Jamaica, and later came to the United States to attend the University of Notre Dame. His path from immigrant roots to one of Asheville’s best-known business founders has long made him a symbol of the city’s entrepreneurial story.

The recognition has accumulated quickly over the past few years. In 2023, Wong received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor, and Asheville and Buncombe County declared May 16 as Oscar Wong Day. With the new memorial garden, UNC Asheville has added a permanent campus marker to a growing public record of what Wong built and why Asheville still remembers him.