Friends Remember Anasoune Phanthavong: 'He Was Love'

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Anasoune Phanthavong worked at True Thai restaurant for more than a decade. His death and the Amy Senser trial has taken a toll on those who worked with him.

"He was humble, kind, very shy," said friend Anna Fieser.

Feiser says Phanthavong, or Ped, as he was known by his friends, was a generous man.

"He loved doing things for others. It feeds him. It fulfills him," Fieser said.

She says that's exactly what Ped was doing the night he was run over and killed.

"He was on his way here to pick up the cleaning crew and give them a ride home -- something that he did on his day off," Fieser said.

Fieser says Ped worked 72 hours a week, only took one day off and usually he would still stop by True Thai to help his extended family with whatever they needed.

For example, when Fieser needed to lose weight.

"So, each night when I got to the restaurant there would be a meal waiting for me," Fieser said.

Within a year, Fieser lost 60 pounds. She went from a size 14 to a double zero.

Since 2002, stars like Bono, the Cohen Brothers, Brad Pitt and Sade would request his services whenever they were in town.

Fieser recently bought Ped a pair of shoes with tip money.

"I never saw him wear those shoes until in court, they showed us a picture of him dead in the middle of the road, "Fieser said.

This extended family feels they must find it in their hearts to do what they believe Ped would want them to.

"I know with everything I am that he would forgive. That's who he was. He was love," said friend Lisa Nunn.

Ped's friends at True Thai say he was never angry. A devout Buddist, they say he was a loving guy with a beautiful heart.

Friends of Ped say since he was the heart and soul of the restaurant, they will keep the memorial of him up for as long as the business is there.