David Shiou-Han WU

DAVID SHIOU-HAN WU David Wu, a kind and generous soul with a deep dedication to the craft of coding, died unexpectedly of diabetic shock on October 7, 2022, in Redmond, Washington, one week before his 48th birthday. Born in Washington D.C., to Alan Wu (d. 1981) and Gillian Wu, both scientists, David spent most of his life in the Toronto area. He grew up in Willowdale with a wonderful, fun and loving group of neighborhood friends and families. He attended ALP in North York, and ASE 2 in Scarborough. These Alternative Learning programs fostered and supported David's creativity and his independent ways. Beginning as a child on an Apple II computer, David developed a passion for programming which carried through his whole life. David attended the University of Toronto's Computer Engineering program and soon joined Origin Systems in Austin, Texas, then a leading publisher of computer games, including the Ultima series, his childhood favourite. In 1995, David returned to Toronto to join two University classmates in founding Pseudo Interactive, one of Toronto's first Game Developer Studios. Still in his 20s, David was now the President of a company with an office at Bay and Bloor complete with bean bags, a foosball table, and more than 50 dedicated staff who kept sleeping bags at the office. David was a pioneer in the embedding of real-world physics into computer games and simulations. His particular talents were widely recognized at Origin, Electronic Arts, Pseudo, and later Microsoft, where he was the CTO of 343 Industries, publisher of the Halo franchise. He once described his work this way: "I love searching around to find secrets, solve mysteries, and understand systems. Eventually I grudgingly accept that some systems are not worth understanding." David was a moral, gentle, and generous person. He was also an original who could only do things his own way. At ALP, he often sat not at his desk, but under it. He had an eccentric lifestyle and could go days programming uninterrupted. Sleep was often in two-hour increments at any time (and any place). David was also a disciplined athlete: hockey and skiing as a youth, and running and bodybuilding as an adult. In his last years, an entrepreneur by nature, David was happily and busily pursuing a reboot of Pseudo Interactive with his game Conquest and Virtue, and preparing for his return to live and code in Toronto. He died a very happy programmer. David was much loved and will be deeply mourned by his mother, Gillian; his brother, Tim; his sister-in-law, Kate; and his two nieces, Sierra and Essie, and by Alice Wilkes and his many friends and family around the world. Stories of David's life will be told at the Old Carfrae Chapel, at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, at 2 p.m. on December 3. Masks will be available. David helped those in need. If you wish, please consider a donation to a charity with a similar mission.