Loni Ding was a veteran independent filmmaker, television producer and university instructor. She devoted her life to advocacy and public service and co-founded several media and arts organizations, such as the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and ITVS. She was also an outspoken advocate for more democratic, public interest art and media.

Loni educated generations of students and filmmakers about the power and importance of storytelling through film and media analysis in the Asian American Studies Program at the Ethnic Studies Department of the University of California, Berkeley.

Her award-winning productions, such as Nisei Soldier (1984) and Ancestors in the Americas (1997), were the first to document early Asian immigrant histories. Her works screened the world over and she was recognized by more than 15 career awards and fellowships, including the Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video Fellowship (1994); a Guggenheim Fellowship (1982); and the American Film Institute Director's Fellowship (1983).