DURHAM, N.C. -- The owner of the Kaffeinate coffe shop in Durham died the way he lived: caring about people.

  • Kong Lee died on Wednesday after a gas leak was reported outside of his family's coffee shop. 
  • Even though the shop was evacuated, Lee stayed behind to make sure no one else came.
  • Lee's children shared a touching tribute to him on the shop's Instagram page.

According to multiple sources, Kong Lee's last act was making sure the faithful customers who supported his shop every day were safe. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is our dad. He had the biggest, purest heart out of anyone we know. He always wanted a cafe because he loved to serve people, and we were finally able to build him one. He loved being able to bring people something that would make them smile. The family we created at Kaffeinate made him so happy. We watched your smiles give him strength and joy. Thank you. Above all, he valued family, and he did everything to give us the best life he could. That means he often worked 12-13 hour days doing jobs no one else wanted to do. He never complained because he never wanted us to worry. That was our dad. - A lot of this still seems unreal, including the outpouring of love and support from our community. We lost the best dad we could have ever asked for. We lost our only source of income. Thank you to everyone who has wanted to and been able to donate to us to buy us time until we can figure out what's next. I will post the link in our bio to a gofundme started by our friend. Thank you to the EMS, firefighters, police and everyone else who helped during the crisis. Thank you to everyone who is guiding us through this time. We admit this is all new territory for us and are not quite sure what comes after. - One note: our baristas are fantastic and also have lost their place of work. Please help us find jobs for them. Raymond will need a job also when he is ready. - The last we heard from our dad, he called us to tell us there was a gas leak outside and to let our staff and customers know we would be closed for the day. He was going to close up and make a sign to put on our door in case anybody came by later. He took such good care of the shop and was so proud of it. If you have any memories of him, please share them with us below. - Lastly, Kaffeinate is closed indefinitely. It always was and always will be for our dad. We've been discussing it and hope one day to be able to rebuild and reopen and bring his memory back to life. 아빠, we will miss you every single day. We love you so much more than you will ever know. - Please forgive us if we have not responded to you. It's not because we don't want to, it's because we don't know what to say. - Diana & Raymond

A post shared by kaffeinate (@kaffeinatenc) on

 

 

A witness who was on the scene shortly before the explosion says they saw him putting a sign in the window of the shop telling people to stay away. And a post to the shop's Instagram page, moments before the explosion that claimed Mr. Lee's life, warned people not to come to the shop. 

In a memorial posted by Lee's children, the Lees say, "The family we created at Kaffeinate made him so happy. We watched your smiles give him strength and joy. Thank you."

The Lees say they hope to one day open another shop. 

A GoFundMe has been set in place for the Lee family to assist with their losses. 

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