Hana Yoon
Hana Yoon was a Korean American marine biologist born in Evanston, Illinois, in 2008. She was the daughter of Sung-ho and Eun-joo Yoon and the younger sister of Travis Yoon. She was a teenager when Travis died of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in August 2025.
Early Life and Background
Hana grew up in Evanston with her parents and Travis, who was approximately four years older. English and Korean were spoken in the Yoon household and with the children’s grandparents.
Hana regularly sent Travis photographs of sea creatures, including jellyfish, octopuses, and deep-sea anglerfish. He saved the photographs on his phone. Her interest in marine life later became her profession when she became a marine biologist.
Family and Core Relationships
Travis Yoon
Travis was Hana’s older brother. Their recurring exchange of sea-creature photographs continued while he studied at Juilliard and during his illness. His death in August 2025 left Hana as the Yoons’ surviving child.
Eun-joo Yoon and Sung-ho Yoon
Hana lived with her parents in Evanston. Eun-joo worked as a registered nurse, and Sung-ho worked as an engineer.
Friendships and Social Connections
Ezra Cruz
Main article: Ezra Cruz and Yoon Family
Ezra became part of the Yoon household during Travis’s leukemia treatment. During the summer of 2025, he treated Hana with the familiarity and consideration he showed his own younger sister, Luna Cruz. His relationship with Hana and the rest of the Yoon family continued after Travis’s death, and Hana later attended his wedding to Nina Cruz with her parents.
Luna Cruz
Ezra introduced Hana and Luna remotely during Travis’s illness or its aftermath. The two became close friends despite living in different states and being three years apart in age.