In the afternoon of the 14^th , I was told that Professor Wu Jing, the former president of NCKU, had passed away in the NCKU hospital. I was devastated and part of my life seemed to go with him too. Someone has said that we only ‘live’ in the memory of other people. And when we lose a very dear friend, part of our living world will also shrink.

 

Last fall, I heard that he had started a chemotherapy treatment. But when I came across him later in a dinner party in last October, he was very voluble as if he still had had many years to go. This is the last time that we NCKU alumni from Washington D.C. saw him, unfortunately.    

 

Some 30 odd years ago, when the NCKU Graduate Association was established in Washington D.C., I became acquainted with him, who was then commuting between Washington D.C. and Delaware University. Sometime later, he and I both worked as board members of Potomac Chinese School, serving together for the community. I was also the Chinese teacher of his two sons. Besides, we were in the same field of fluid dynamics and navigation technology. Therefore, we had plenty of chance to meet each other.

 

He went back to Taiwan in 1994 to become the first elected president of the NCKU and did a lot of work to build up the reputation of the University. Two years later, he took up the post of Minister for Education and carried out a reform in education. After stepping down from the post, he continued teaching and doing research in the NCKU. Even one month before he passed away, he still worked hard and commuted between Taiwan and the United States, the place where his family live.  

 

Although cancer took away his life, he has had a lot of accomplishments in his seventy-four years, accomplishments like a wonderful family and three very successful sons. In the end, as witnessed by Professor Lee, he was surrounded by his family and dear friends and passed away in his beloved NCKU.

 

Here I wish to present a bouquet of flowers to him, a person with a regretless life.

 

In commemorating him, especially his care of young students and his support for international cooperation, the NCKU Graduate Association has proposed to raise a fund of US$100,000 to sponsor every year one or two NCKU graduates to study abroad. People are welcomed to contribute to this meaningful activity.
 

In 1979, working as a board member of Potomac Chinese School, Professor Wu, Ms Lu from the National Congress Library and the author; Photo taken in summer, 2007)