Dong Wong, designed aircraft before opening restaurants

Whether greeting a stranger or someone he had known for years, Mr. Wong had the sort of welcoming smile that could coax a grin out of even the most reserved, relatives said.

He was often the source of business and personal advice that helped many in his community succeed and earned him legions of loyal and admiring friends.

“He was a master of human behavior,’’ recalled his son, Dean of Plymouth. ’’Without people saying anything, he would know where they were coming from.’’

The eldest of five children, born to a cook and a textile worker in the Hoiping area of Guangdong Province, China, Mr. Wong learned early the virtues of hard work and self sufficiency.

Just before World War II, Mr. Wong’s father immigrated to the United States, with plans to earn money to send for the rest of the family. The small boy, left with his mother and grandmother to care for the household, quickly mastered jumping from the backs of water buffalo to catch river fish with his bare hands.

Almost immediately after his arrival in America, Mr. Wong’s father was drafted into the US Army, separating him from the family for 10 years. During that time, Mr. Wong started trying to make it to the United States. He immigrated to Canada, staying with family friends in Quebec and Montreal, and garnering the culinary skills informing his later success. By the 1950s, the family was reunited and living in Boston.

After finishing high school in the early 1960s, Mr. Wong earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Boston University in 1966. That same year, he married Nancy Ann Chin, whom he had met on a blind date.

They moved to Bridgeport, Conn., and Mr. Wong began working at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford. He helped refine the prototypes of the Sikorsky H-3/S-61R Sea King and CH-53E Super Stallion military helicopters, used during the Vietnam War. His wife worked for Sikorsky’s marketing department.

By 1969, projects at Sikorsky were slowing down, so Mr. Wong left the industry to return to his roots of self sufficiency, opening his own restaurant, Wong’s Chateau, in Woburn.

“My father told us that watching [Sikorsky] jobs and contracts go, he looked at his life and decided, ‘I didn’t want to have someone else decide my fate,’ ’’ his son said.

Mr. Wong sold the restaurant more than 20 years ago and moved his family to Cape Cod, where he opened the Tiki Port Restaurant.

“There were very few restaurants in Cape Cod,’’ Dean said. “He saw the market, and he said, ‘That’s where we’re going; that’s where we’re going to make it.’ ’’

Still located in Hyannis after 34 years, Tiki Port had become a local institution, with Mr. Wong at the helm, greeting patrons with his trademark smile and heavy Chinese accent. He worked 70 to 80 hours a week there until he was 65. Besides the popular spareribs and Pu Pu platters, patrons could catch glimpses of notable regulars, including Pearl Bailey, Ted Kennedy, and Marvin Hagler, relatives said.

“It’s one of the places that’s been [on Cape Cod] forever,’’ Dean said. “Everybody knows it, and everybody knows him.’’

Mr. Wong eventually opened three more restaurants.

Making several visits to China, he also helped those looking to immigrate to the United States. He had hoped to offer as many Chinese as possible a chance to duplicate his success.

“He taught us that you can do the right thing and still have your own success, make other people happy, and help them have success for themselves,’’ his son said.

Mr. Wong was respected as a business consultant and adviser among entrepreneurs in Boston’s Chinatown.

“He was very active in the community and was just a happy guy, always helping people,’’ said Michael Wong, current director of the Wong Family Benevolent Association of Boston, which Mr. Wong worked with closely for decades. “He was really good for our organization; it’s a real loss. He was very well known, and a lot of people will be at [his] wake.’’

His example of reaching out to his community created a legacy his children said will remain a family practice.

“One of the big things I learned from him was to make sure that the people around you know you’re there for them,’’ said his daughter, Amy, of Somerville.

In addition to his wife, son, and daughter, Mr. Wong leaves three sisters, Beck of Washington, D.C., Alice Lee of Watertown, and Pearl of Randolph; a grandson; and a granddaughter.

A wake will be held today from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Wing Fook Funeral Home on Gerard Street in Boston. Funeral services will be held there tomorrow at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Forest Hills Cemetery.