Lydia Chi Ngar Li

January 9, 1952 - November 5, 2021

Lydia Chi Ngar Li, doting mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully at her home on November 5, 2021 at the age of 69, due to complications from metastatic breast cancer. She is survived by her two sons, Kristofer and Jeffrey, daughter-in-law Lisa, and granddaughters, Riley and Kenzie. Lydia was born on January 9, 1952 in Hong Kong to Li Yung and Hsiang-Yung. When she was a teenager, her family moved to New York City, where she later attended undergrad at Barnard College of Columbia University. She went on to earn her MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and began her career in finance, relocating briefly to Switzerland and then China for four years. Lydia enjoyed a tenured career at Hewlett-Packard, from treasury to reseller marketing, and eventually settled in California -- first in San Francisco then Menlo Park, where she has been a resident for the last 26 years. Friends and family loved Lydia for her outgoing and optimistic personality. Lydia could often be found painting watercolors on silk, growing tomatoes in her vegetable garden, or chasing around dogs of all kinds. Her favorite hobbies also included attending ice skating competitions, recapping stories at Book Club, and cooking new recipes. She was also fortunate to take recent trips around the world to the Baltics, Greece, and Belize. Although Lydia’s cancer returned in 2015, she continued to lead a happy and energetic life. She was active in the Bay Area Cancer Connection (BACC) and was a metastatic lobular cancer leader working to educate and support others. We take comfort in knowing that she’s having wonderful conversations and gourmet meals in the next phase of her journey. A memorial service is scheduled for November 13 at Skylawn Memorial Park, Hwy 92 at Skyline Blvd in San Mateo. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the local support group that provides emotional and logistical resources to those facing breast and ovarian cancer: https://bayareacancer.networkforgood.com/projects/106093-support-bacc-today.