Lasting Memories

Li Chuan Wang
Nov. 10, 1919-March 28, 2013
Palo Alto, California

After an adventurous life, Li Chuan Wang, 93, passed away on March 28, 2013 in Palo Alto, Calif. He was born Nov. 10, 1919, near Kai Yuan, China. The middle child and oldest son in a family of seven sisters and brothers, he grew up on a soybean and sorghum farm walled off from bandits and rode into town on horseback.

In 1932, he was forced to leave home as the Japanese invaded China. He traveled and hitchhiked around the country, attending moving schools established by the government during the war. He enrolled in 1940 at National Central University in Chongqing, his studies interrupted when he was drafted into the army for six months as a translator. In 1945, he earned a diploma signed by then-university head Chiang Kai-shek.

It was at school that Li Chuan met Hwa Lih, a fellow student in the agriculture and chemistry department and on the school basketball team. Together they applied for graduate schools in the United States. They both received Ph.Ds in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin. Married in 1949, they were together for more than 60 years.

As nomadic in his career as his early life, Li Chuan moved from jobs in Madison, Milwaukee and St. Louis, even teaching in Alaska before settling into a research position at the USDA Northern Regional Research Lab in Peoria, Ill., in the '60s. He specialized in soil physiology, helping soybeans become a major crop in the U.S. In Peoria, Li Chuan and Hwa Lih raised their two sons: Emil, who attended Princeton and Stanford and became a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and Fred, who attended Northwestern and is a doctor and professor at Harvard Medical School.

His family expanded with Emil and Patty's children, Brian, Kevin and Katie, and Fred and Rhodinne's children, Alex, Stephanie and Mickey. Under their grandfather's tutelage, the six grandchildren learned to play mah jong and make potstickers.

Upon retirement, Li Chuan and Hwa Lih moved to Palo Alto. He became a regular at local restaurants, indulged his love of tennis and grew vegetables and fruit trees in his garden. He was an avid fan at his grandchildren?s high school sports events.

Li Chuan lived happily for 93 amazing years and died peacefully of natural causes, surrounded by his wife and family. A reception will be held in April. For information, contact lcwangmemorial@gmail.com.