Marshall Ho’o (1910 – 1993) was an American practitioner of t’ai chi ch’uan.
Ho’o was born in 1910 in Oakland, California, and in his youth campaigned on behalf of trade unions. Having previously studied t’ai chi with Choy Hok Pang, Ho’o re- discovered the art in his 50s whilst on a health retreat in Mexico. After this, he began teaching as an assis- tant of Wen-Shang Huang, one of his early instructors. The two of them founded the National T’ai Chi Associ- ation, a loose affiliation of t’ai chi schools, in 1962. In 1967, Huang left to teach at a university in China, leav- ing Ho’o in sole charge of the Association. On his return to China, Huang sponsored a teaching visit to America by Dong Huling to provide instruction to his American students.
In 1973, Ho’o founded the Aspen Academy of the Mar- tial Arts, a centre for the study of martial arts located in Aspen, Colorado.
He held the post of professor of Oriental History at the California Institute of the Arts, and was Chairman of the National T’ai Chi Ch’uan Association. Ho’o was a li- censed acupuncturist, and a member of the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame.[5] He developed his own form of t’ai chi, extracting movements from a number of dif- ferent styles. His approach stressed the health benefits of t’ai chi, and focussed on exercises to relax and soften the body.
Dr. Ho’o was instrumental in the certification of acupuncture in the State of California. He was the first Tai Chi Master to have been elected to the Black Belt Hall of Fame. He was Dean of the Aspen Academy of Martial & Healing Arts, on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts, and taught Tai Chi and Acupressure at many educational institutions. In 1973, he created a series for KCET public television, in Los Angeles, teaching Tai Chi. He was a consultant to Prevention Magazine’s The Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies. A Chinese American, Dr. Ho’o was America’s first Tai Chi Chuan Grandmaster. His influence is far-reaching in both the fields of healing and martial arts.
Ho’o died in 1993, survived by his seven children.