Disability rights advocate and former policy adviser of the National Council on Disability to the United States White House Kang Young-woo died Friday.

Kang died from pancreatic cancer. He was 68.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October last year.

He is survived by his wife, and two sons Paul and Christopher Kang. Paul Kang, the elder, is an ophthalmologist and Christopher Kang is a Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for Legislative Affairs.

Kang lost his eyesight when he was 14 years old, but later went on to study at Yonsei University, becoming the school’s first blind student.

Kang then earned a doctorate degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Education, becoming the first blind Korean to do so.

In 2002, he was appointed a policy adviser on the National Council on Disability and held the post for six years. He was also the only person of Korean-descent to date to hold a policy advisor’s post for a U.S. president.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)