Frankie Chung, who rose from a teenage Hong Kong immigrant who spoke little English to a top McDonald’s executive and franchise owner here, died Jan. 23. He was 49.

The Garden Island newspaper called his journey "the quintessential American success story" in December 2009 when Chung, of Lihue, and his wife, Darlene, became owners of all five McDonald’s restaurants on Kauai.

Before that he served as director of operations for McDonald’s Hawaii since 2005, overseeing more than 80 restaurants in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

"We were happy for him when he fulfilled his dream and became a McDonald’s owner and operator," said Veronica Kaneko, McDonald’s Hawaii president and managing director.

A month after moving to Honolulu in August 1980, Chung got a job as an entry-level crew member at the McDonald’s on School Street, his family said in a statement.

Chung eventually advanced to restaurant manager, area supervisor and manager of several departments for McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii.

It was also under the golden arches where he met Darlene, a fellow swing shift manager. They married in 1991.

In 1997 McDonald’s gave him its President’s Award, given to the top 1 percent of company employees.

Chung is survived by his wife, sons Brandon and Michael, brothers Simon Chung and Poshu Cheng, and sister Gloria Lau.

Services will be held Monday at Diamond Head Mortuary from 10 to 11 a.m. Burial will be at 1:30 p.m. at Diamond Head Memorial Park. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Hawaii.