Kyi Kyi Tin-Myint

1929 - 2016
Dr. Kyi Kyi Tin-Myint, of Kew Gardens, New York, passed away on Wednesday, December 28, 2017 at Beth Israel Mount Sinai Hospital, of acute myeloid leukemia. She was born in Rangoon, Burma on December 13, 1929, the third child of U Han and Daw Ngwai Yon. She received her BA from Rangoon University, Burma with a major in English literature, and after marrying U Tin Myint (who predeceased her in 1981) she went back to school to earn an MBBS from the Institute of Medicine I, in Rangoon. She also had and raised six children (three boys and three girls). She emigrated to the US in December 1971, with her husband and children, where she obtained her medical license. She became a psychiatrist, specializing in Child and Adolescent psychiatry. She worked at a number of hospitals and institutions in the US and UK and retired in 2002. She was also a poet, a writer of many novels, short stories, essays, and magazine articles, which she wrote under her pen name, Kyi Aye. Kyi Aye was considered one of the most influential Burmese writers who emerged in Burma after the post-colonial period. Her debut short story, "Hto Nya (That Night)" was published in Taya magazine volume 1, issue 4, 1947. She maintained her prolific creative output until her recent illness, with poems and stories published in literary magazines in Burma, and with publications of collected poems and novels. She was cremated according to her wishes; a memorial was held on Jan 3, 2017 at the Aung Myay Bon Kyaw Monastery near the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma. She is survived by her six children: Moe Myint of Central Islip, NY; Mya Kyae Myint of Brooklyn, NY; Moe-Swe Myint of Kew Gardens, NY; Moe-Thu Myint-Fugel of London, UK; Lay Myint of Atlanta, GA; Aye Myint of Lebanon, OH; and her four grandchildren: Aay Preston-Myint of Chicago, IL; Jeremy Myint of Cincinnati, OH; Dylan Fugel of Brooklyn, NY; and Layla Myint of Lebanon, OH; in addition to her many nieces and nephews in Burma.