Sarun Pen

Sarun Pen was born on June 21, 1955 in the Svay Rieng province of Cambodia. He was the 2nd oldest of 12 children. Sarun currently still has two sisters, Lori and Sodarany, and a younger brother, Lan who survived after the Cambodian Civil war. Sarun immigrated to the United States in 1981 where he met his future wife, Sopheang Phorn (Sophie). Sarun and Sophie were married in 1984 in St Paul, Minnesota. During this time, Sarun attended Century College where he received his ASE Auto Mechanic Certification. In 1985, they were blessed with their first child, a daughter who they named Chandara. After he received his ASE certification, Sarun worked full-time at Jiffy Lube as a mechanic. In 1987, Sarun and Sophie were blessed again with a son, Stevena. With his growing family in mind, Sarun decided to leave Jiffy Lube and enter the manufacturing business and worked as a machine operator in a manufacturing plant. Sarun worked hard and became a lead operator and a trainer. Sophie decided to go to school after giving birth to Steve and she received her Certified Nursing Assistant certification at St Paul College. In 1988, Sophie also entered the workforce and worked at Summit Manor Nursing Home in St Paul. In 1989, they added another beautiful son to their growing family who they named Andrew.

While Sophie was pregnant with Andrew, Sarun decided to start his first entrepreneur venture and lean on his mechanic skills and open an auto shop in 1988, which he named Sarun Auto Repair. Sarun Auto Repair was located on the corner of Rice Street and Como Avenue in St Paul. While being an owner of an auto shop and working as lead mechanic, Sarun decided to take on another adventure and purchased a convenience store on the corner of Dale Street and Thomas Avenue in 1996. Sarun had a vision of transforming the convenience store into an authentic Cambodian restaurant. He envisioned that his wife would be his business partner and also his executive chef. While working mornings at Sarun Auto Repair, he would spend his evenings converting the convenience store into a restaurant on the main level and an apartment living on the 2nd floor of the building for the family. After 7 years of renovation, Sarun and Sophie opened the doors to their dreams and Kolap Restaurant was introduced to the public in 2003. Sarun and Sophie can officially say that they built Kolap with their own bare hands. It was during this time that Sarun decided to sell his auto shop and focus on Kolap.

In a popular and densely populated restaurant area of St Paul, Kolap struggled early on with entering the restaurant market. To make ends meet, Sarun decided to get a 3rd shift job and work at Pfizer in Brooklyn Park. Sophie was still working her 2nd job as a Certified Nursing Assistant working the 1st shift. Sophie worked from 6am to 2:30pm at the nursing home then would come home and run the restaurant from 2:30pm until 9pm. She would then clean up, prepare lunch for her husband, and then head to bed. Sarun would go to work at 10pm at Pfizer and work until 7am. Once he got home from work, his first priority was getting his 3 kids to school. After dropping the kids off at school, he would get groceries for the restaurant and then open the restaurant at 10am. Sarun would work in the restaurant until 2:30pm when Sophie got home from her job. He would then go pick up the kids from school before going to bed and getting up and working again at 10pm. He also continued this routine even with his grandson Martial. As the restaurant started to establish itself in the local community, and even bigger in the Cambodian community, Sarun continued to stay on his hectic schedule. Sophie decided to drop down to being on-call in the nursing home and worked full-time as a Family Advocate at Asian Women United. In 2012, Sophie decided to focus on the restaurant full-time and left her role as a Family Advocate after 4 years and her nursing home position of 16 years.

Sarun was a hardworking man who built his life and business with his bare hands from the ground up. If anyone were to describe Sarun, first thing they would say was that he was the hardest working man they knew. But no matter how hard he worked, he would always find time for his family. He never hesitated to make time for his brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, and nieces. Any additional free second of his busy schedule was occupied with spending time with his children. Although he worked long hours, Sarun never showed his exhaustion in front of his children while he took them out shopping at Rainbow Foods or for ice cream after a long day of work. Sarun also loved his grandchildren Martial, Rithysen, and Soriya. He would spoil the grandkids and give them anything they wanted, even if it were against their parent's wishes. Sarun's grandkids adore him and love him so much. They couldn't wait to see him and find out what surprises he had waiting for them.

Sarun was a man of few words but spoke more through hard work and love for his family and friends. Sarun and Sophie displayed immaculate compassion by welcoming family and friends in need into their home. They had relatives, friends of relatives, and friends of their children stay in their home over the years. Kolap was not only becoming a successful restaurant but also a haven to help others get back on their feet. They expanded their family by welcoming people into their homes and into their hearts. They were always concerned with family and friends that didn't have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. They sheltered and fed anyone that would walk into their home. Sarun changed and saved more lives than he could ever imagine but he never took credit or compensation for anything and just went along with his modest daily routine. Sarun unselfishly made a tremendous impact on all the lives he touched. Whenever someone hit a rough patch in their life, Sarun was always there to help smoothen out the path.
In June of 2018, Sarun was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. By the time Sarun was diagnosed, the tumor had already metastasized to his liver and the cancer consumed majority of his liver. Sarun decided to undergo chemotherapy and combat the cancer cells to extend his life. After months of battling cancer, Sarun decided in early April of 2019 to discontinue all treatments. He had accepted his fate and was ready to move on with his remaining days the way that he wanted to go out, on his terms. On May 6, 2019, Sarun took his last breath at 2pm. He passed away in peace, in the comfort of his own home, surrounded by his family. Sarun is survived by his wife Sophie, his daughter Chandara along with her son Rithysen and daughter Soriya, his son Stevena along with his son Martial, and his youngest son Andrew.

There is another journey for you to follow now and another entrepreneurship adventure that awaits you. We all love you so much Sarun and miss you, oh so dearly.