Kong Son Chiu

Kong Son Chiu, DVM, resident of Wayland MA, died peacefully on February 25th, 2026, at age 95.

Kong Son was born in 1930 in the former Portuguese African province of Mozambique, in the capital Lourenço Marques. Having been schooled in both Chinese and Portuguese, Kong Son was admitted to Peking University as a teenager to study veterinary medicine.

As a Portuguese citizen, he was allowed to leave China after the communist revolution, to work in Macau, where he established his first veterinary clinic.

In 1953, he married Ling Chun Fu, a.k.a. Teresa, in neighboring Hong Kong. The following year, they moved back to Mozambique where they raised their family. He joined the research faculty of the Instituto de Investigação Veterinária, specializing in tropical pathology for animal diseases.

Kong Son was an active member of the local community in Mozambique, serving in diverse roles as member of the board of 'Escola Chinesa de Lourenço Marques' , founder of a clinic for domestic animals ,and as an invited judge for local dog and horse shows.

In 1975, Kong Son and Teresa moved to Campinas, S.P. in Brazil, where he joined Arbor Acres Brasil, a subsidiary of International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC), founded by Nelson Rockefeller. A few years later, he was invited to join Arbor Acres Farms Inc., headquartered in Glastonbury, CT, where they happily settled until his retirement. While at Arbor Acres, he traveled all over the world, in his role as technical manager for the Asian division, focusing on poultry health, pathology, and nutrition. This job gave him deep satisfaction, working in many countries, and allowing him to re-visit China and contribute to its revitalization as an American citizen. He continued these responsibilities after Arbor Acres was acquired by the global company Aviagen.

After retirement, Kong Son and Teresa moved to Wayland MA, where he revived his lifelong hobbies, perfecting Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, breeding tropical fish, and growing orchids. A lifelong scholar, he enjoyed opportunities to improve his mastery of the English, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Cantonese languages and literature.

Kong Son was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, uncle, in-law, beloved by a large extended family world-wide. He is survived by Teresa, his wife of 73 years; his son Leo of Brooklyn, New York; daughter Isabel, son-in-law Charles, and grandchildren Solomon and Daniel Weitz of Newton MA; brother Kong Lim (UK) and Kung On (California) and their families. He will be dearly missed.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, March 8th 2026 at the Burke & Blackington Funeral Home, 1479 Washington Street, West Newton, MA 02465. Family will receive guests from 2:00 -2:30pm, followed by a prayer service and remembrances at 2:30 and reception from 3:30-5PM.

A Private Interment will take place at Newton Cemetery.

Memorials

If you wish to send flowers:

Forevermarkflowers.com, 760-412-2619, can accommodate dedications in English and Chinese

https://forevermarkflowers.com/collections/sympathy-for-loved-one-loss

If you wish to make a donation, consider:

Amyloidosis Research Consortium https://donate.arci.org/give/177626/#!/donation/checkout

Mass General Hospital Fund

https://giving.massgeneral.org/where-to-give/the-mgh-fund

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts

https://www.emassbigs.org/