Yong-Zhuo Chen

ARCADIA, Calif. - Dr. Yong-Zhuo Chen, 75, of Arcadia passed away in his home Nov. 21, 2024, after a two and a half year battle with urothelial cancer.
Born Aug. 12, 1949, he was a longtime resident of Bradford and was a mathematics professor at Pitt-Bradford for 34 years.
Dr. Chen was born in Shanghai, China, and spent his childhood between Shanghai and Suzhou. When he was 17, a few months short of graduating high school, he was sent to the Chinese countryside to work on a farm in Anhui Province during the Cultural Revolution. He spent 8 years working in Anhui. After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1977, over 5.7 million people took the first national college entrance exam to be offered in 11 years, and only 270,000 were offered admission. Dr. Chen was one of them. He was offered admission into Shanghai Normal University, where he received his master's degree in mathematics.
He served as a professor at his alma mater before immigrating to the U.S. to pursue his doctorate in mathematics at University of Pittsburgh under the supervision of Professor Ka-Sing Lau in 1984. After graduating in 1988, he spent one year as a visiting assistant professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio before moving to Pitt's Bradford, Pa., campus. He retired from the university in 2023.
Outside of teaching, Dr. Chen loved to explore the trails in Bradford and the surrounding region and could often be found walking with his wife and children on the McDowell Trail and around town.
He is survived by his wife, Hui-Ping Tan, of Arcadia; two children, Alice (Raymond Fang) Chen of Los Angeles and Xiao-Zhuo (Yu-Han) Chen of Shanghai; two brothers, Yong-Chao Chen of New York City and Yong-Yi Chen of Shanghai; and one sister, Yong-Ling Chen of Shanghai.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Liang-Xue Chen and Ya-Zhen Zhou; and sister, Yong-Ping Chen.
A traditional Chinese memorial was held by Universal Chung Wah Funeral Directors in Arcadia on Dec. 1, 2024. A private burial will be held at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
Memorial donations can be made toward a plaque on the Memorial Wall at McDowell Trail through the Tuna Valley Trail Association.