Cheng Shih

SHIH, CHENG
Cheng Shih died at Collier Hospice Center on October 30, 2008, on his 92nd Birthday. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Helen Chao Shih, and is survived by their three sons: Theodore and Franklin of Golden, CO,and Dwight of Wilton, CT; and his second wife, Zhi-Mei Li Shih, of Houston, Texas.
A Memorial Service will be held at the Chapel at St. Joseph's Hospital, 1835 Franklin St., Denver, CO, 80218 on Saturday November 15, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the "Helen Shih Memorial Scholarship Fund" c/o Dwight Shih, PO Box 203, Wilton, CT 06897-0203.
Cheng Shih was born in Wugang City, Hunan Province, China on October 30, 1916. He graduated from the Shanghai Chinese Technical School in 1934 and from the mechanical engineering department of Beiying University at Tianjin in 1939. During World War II, he worked at China Central Weapon Manufacturing (1940-1941) and reached the rank of Major as an instructor at the Army Mechanization School (1943-1946).
In 1947, he came to the United States and earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Illinois University in 1951. In 1959, he joined Martin Marietta Co. in Baltimore, MD. Ten years, later he transferred to the Denver Division of Martin in Colorado. He was the director of Martin's nuclear division from 1958 1966, and a staff scientist in its aerospace division from 1966-1970. After retiring from Martin, he kept busy performing consulting work, and teaching both at the University of Colorado, Denver, and at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He also worked as a building inspector for the City of Aurora from 1980-1989.