Fan Zhong's Obituary
Fan Zhong January 19, 1955 – July 7, 2017 Principal Engineer at Qualcomm, Santa Clara, CA, USAFan Zhong, Principal Engineer at Qualcomm, died on July 7th, 2017 after battling against neuroendocrine cancer. He is survived by his wife and companion of many years, Min Ye, along with his two children, Alex and Joyce Zhong.He was born on January 19th, 1955 to Qixiang Zhong and Xihang Pan in Shanghai, China. As a youth raised in Shanghai during the 50’s and 60’s,, he experienced China’s Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, two historically significant events that left a strong impression on him during his formative years. Amongst his friends, classmates, neighbors, and relatives, he was perceived as quiet, kind natured, tolerant, inquisitive, intelligent, and laboriously industrious with his studies.Upon completion of secondary school, he enrolled in a local vocational technical school and for two years, he was trained with the objective of becoming an apprentice electrician. His capability with repairing electronics was noticeable early on as he immediately became a reputable electrician at a local factory. During this period of his life, he assembled various electronic devices from spare parts during his leisure time. Some of the devices he built included a semiconductor radio and a cathode ray tube television that was used by his family as a source of entertainment and news. This achievement is still routinely brought up during family gatherings.Due to his immense talent, diligent work ethic, and capability to swiftly and deftly learn new things, Fan successfully enrolled as an undergraduate student at the Shanghai University of Technology and Science in 1977 with a major in physics. He successfully obtained his bachelor’s degree four years later in 1981, and further specialized in the field of physics by continuing his education, eventually receiving a master’s degree in solid state physics in 1984 with an emphasis in the field of low temperature superconducting. Soon after, he became a lecturer at the University, however he was not satisfied with ending his academic career with just a master’s degree. In 1988, with his family’s blessing, he immigrated to the United States to attend the University of Oregon as a PhD student and successfully earned his doctorate in philosophy in solid state physics in 1992, under the guidance and tutelage of Dr. David Cohen .Upon completion of his graduate school education, he and his family relocated to the Bay Area, CA, where he would spend the rest of his life. His first stop was in Berkeley, California, where he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Physics Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and worked at the PECVD laboratory and the Microelectronics Fabrication Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley to develop thick amorphous silicon based x-ray sensors for medical imaging systems.While his interests were rooted in academia, he made the jump to industry as the economy burgeoned in the late 1990’s. His first industry position was at Image Quest Technologies where he was head of the thin film engineering group and responsible for all engineering issues in thin film processes. He then made the jump to DpiX where he was the lead engineer of the Dry Etch / PECVD group. His first role as a principal engineer came next at Lightwave Microsystems, where he was the primary investigator of PECVD silane based waveguide glass materials. When Lightwave Microsystems was acquired by NeoPhotonics, Fan stayed on as the lead engineer for process integration and process transfer from R&D to manufacturing. Afterwards, in the spring of 2005, Fan was hired at QualComm, the company he would stay at for the rest of his storied career. He was initially hired to be apart of and eventually lead the development of the MEMS display panel, a project that spanned several years and resulted in him filing an incredible 44 invention disclosures, of which 22 were granted patents by the United States Patent and Trademark office.Fan was a brilliant scientist, an innovative engineer, and inspirational leader. Although he still remained quiet and soft spoken in his latter years, an attribute he retained from his youth, his calm and level headed leadership style enkindled confidence from his peers, his junior colleagues, and his leadership team.Mentorship was very important to Fan, as he always took the time to support and develop the younger engineers he took under his wing. As a father, he provided that same sort of guidance and care whenever his children needed his fatherly advice and assistance.Fan was an avid enthusiast of the outdoors, gardening, ping pong, NBA basketball, and all things related to boating. He spent many of his weekends visiting the great number of national parks that surround the Bay Area, as well as others around the country. Those who know him well remember him as a kind and warm soul who cared deeply about others and always put them ahead of himself. He will be sorely missed.
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