Chen Fan Wang's Obituary
Mr. Chen Fan Wang, age 91, died on Friday March 27, 2015 at his home in Palo Alto, California surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. The cause of the death was liver cancer.Mr. Wang was born July 8, 1923 in Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province in central China, about 265 kilometers north of Shanghai. The youngest of five children of Mr. Ji Huang Wang, a school district board director, and Mrs. Sun Yi Wang, he had a happy childhood until 1937, when Japan invaded China during the Second World War. Evacuated with his family to the countryside, he studied four years at home under his father’s guidance, focusing on Chinese literature and history. At the end of the war, he attended Huaihe Academy of Hydraulic Engineering. After graduating in 1948, he joined the Yangtze River Hydraulic Engineering Bureau in Nanjing as an engineer, responsible for using advanced equipment to pioneer the first ever sonar surveying and mapping of the three dimensional course of the Yangtze River to improve navigation. During the Chinese Civil War, he volunteered a heroic mission in commanding a ship on Yangtze River to transport important equipments and documents passing war zones against the communist army.In March 1949, he followed the Chinese Nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan with his family and began working as an engineer in the Taiwan provincial government. His thirty-nine years civil service career pursued and contributed to the modernization development of Taiwan from an agricultural society to an industrial society. His experience included irrigation systems for agriculture development, dams for power generation and water resources, and development projects for urban and industrial parks.His final professional position was the General Manager of the Development Division of the Taiwan Land Development and Investment Company, a top land development company founded by the Taiwan government. He received a Special Contribution Award from Republic of China Hydraulic Engineering Association, and retired at age 65.Mr. Wang had a happy family life. At age 30, he married Gau Lan, who was 10 years younger than he was. They had four children, who all attended universities in Taiwan and received graduate degrees in the U.S., and eight grandchildren, all born and educated in the U.S. Following Mr. Wang’s retirement, he frequently visited his children and grandchildren in the United States, and eventually migrated to the U.S. to become a permanent resident in 1991 and a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008. He lived in various states with his children including California, New Jersey, New York, Iowa, and Minnesota. In the U.S., he found his belief in God and was baptized in 2006 at the Saint Matthew’s Catholic Church in San Mateo, California.Mr. Wang will be remembered for his pleasant personality, broad knowledge, and his passion in singing. Although he was trained as an engineer, he was very knowledgeable in humanity especially in traditional Chinese literature and he wrote exquisite Chinese calligraphy. He enjoyed music and love singing and sharing his beautiful songs with family and friends.Mr. Wang is survived by his wife, Gau Lan Wang; his daughter HungChing Chan, her husband Chiu Shui Chan, and their two children: Dexter Chan and Virginia Chan; his daughter Helen Chang, her husband Pao Chi Chang, and their two sons: Marvin Chang and Roger Chang; his son Harrison Wang, his wife Sheila Wang and their two sons: Kendrick Wang, and Kevin Wang; and his youngest son Hong Shen Wang, his wife Jessica Wang and their two children: Calvin Wang, and Connie Wang. He will be missed.The funeral service will be held at Skylawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Hw92 at Skyline Blvd, San Mateo, CA 94402, on April 9, at 10:00 AM.
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