As the longtime consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, she helped raise money for her preferred politicians, backed projects that benefit Chinatown’s residents and helped make the neighbourhood a strong player in the city’s political world. In 2011, she started a campaign that led to Ed Lee becoming the city’s first Chinese-American mayor.

Lee called her death “a great loss to the city”.

“She was strong and fearless,” Lee said, adding that , who ordered city flags flown at half-staff in honor of Ms. Pak.

“Whether she was right or wrong, she grounded herself in representing the community. She really wanted to make sure Chinatown as a whole was respected.”

Lee said he had ordered for the city’s flags to be flown at half-mast in honour of Pak.

Pak was born in Hunan province, where her father was a businessman. He died in the civil war, and her mother fled with the children to Hong Kong in 1952. At 17, she won a scholarship to a women’s college in San Francisco and earned a master’s degree in 1972 from Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism in New York.

Fluent in English and Cantonese, with a shrewd understanding of the political ways on both sides of the divide, she became something of a gatekeeper for Chinatown, translating for city leaders who came to seek donations or discuss projects.

She was once described as “tenacious as a pit bull”. She was well known for her fiery temper and sense of humour.

A series of cryptic messages were posted on a Twitter account bearing Pak’s name after her death.

“Those who have sides against me in battle, remember this: I do not forgive or forget. My warriors hold senior posts and they will avenge me,” one of the messages read.