The United States Snooker Association (USSA) is mourning the loss this past week of Tommy Chen, who was a very popular and passionate purveyor of the New York City snooker scene.

Tommy was the proprietor of the Prince Snooker Club in Brooklyn, and he, along with his beloved wife Anita, were the enthusiastic and wonderful hosts of four United States National Snooker Championships.

He was very keen to give lots of competitive playing opportunities to his local players in a bid to promote the sport in New York City, so he would regularly run tournaments, in addition to staging a challenge match with West Coast players, bringing a snooker team over from his native Hong Kong to challenge the Prince Snooker Club, and once putting on the Canada versus United States team Can-Am Snooker Challenge.

One of his closest friends was the 2017 United States National Snooker Champion, Raymond Fung, who is now also a Director of the USSA.

Fung said: "I knew Tommy from the mid-90s when he first opened Prince Karaoke Bar, but we started to get closer once he opened the Prince Snooker Club in 2004.

"As a player, I can tell you that I wouldn't have had my success without the support of Tommy. In my heart he is my boss, and will ever be. His passing is a great loss to snooker in the United States."

Ajeya Prabhakar and Alan Morris, the President and the Executive Director of the USSA respectively, have also commented on the passing of their friend.

"This is very sad," said Parbhakar. "Tommy has been a great personal friend since the early 2000s and has been a great supporter of the USSA, and we were planning on hosting other great events at the Prince Club. I will really miss his company and conversations about snooker on my trips to New York!"

In his tribute, Morris said: "I will never forget how incredibly welcome Tommy and his wonderful wife Anita made me feel on each occasion that I went to play snooker at the Prince Club, and the hospitality they showed me away from table.

"He was a very kind and generous man and to lose him so soon came as quite a shock – he will be very sadly missed."

The Board of the USSA would like to send our sincerest condolences to Tommy's wife Anita, and to all of their close family and friends.