KUANG-O OSCAR YU

Kuang-O Oscar Yu, 79, of Highland Heights, Ohio, passed away on Friday, July 25, 2025 in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Kuang-O was born on June 17, 1946 in the city of Wuhan, in the Hubei province of China. During the Chinese civil war, his family moved to the island of Taiwan, where he grew up and met his wife Ming-Hua. They immigrated to the United States, where Kuang-O earned his Ph.D. in metallurgy at the University of Kentucky. From then on, Kuang-O would be a lifelong fan of Kentucky Wildcats collegiate basketball. An unfortunate tree-cutting accident in New York left Kuang-O a paraplegic for the remainder of his life. Despite this, Kuang-O never let his disability stop him from living a full life. He would go on to become an industry leader in metallurgy, specializing in titanium alloys, especially for the aerospace industry. He became a fellow in the American Society for Metals (ASM International), edited a university textbook for chemical/material engineering ("Modeling for Casting and Solidification Processing," 2001), was a guest professor/lecturer at different schools, and traveled the world for business and industry conferences. He retired as the Senior Director of Research & Development at RTI International Metals, an Alcoa company. Subsequent consulting roles would see him continue his global travels, before full retirement in 2014. Kuang-O was a loving father and grandfather to his son, daughter, and three grandchildren. He had a marvelous singing voice and was known for his harmonica skills in his youth. His favorite singers included Hank Williams Sr., Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, and Simon & Garfunkel. Kuang-O never met a strip of meat jerky that he didn't like, enjoyed making his own Chinese sausage by hand, and always looked forward to a fresh batch of walleye from his daughter-in-law's family. He is survived by his wife Ming-Hua Lydia Yu (nee Yen), son Dun-Wei Victor (Jennifer) Yu, daughter Dun-Ying Vicki (Vishal) Yu, grandchildren David, Abby, and Arya, older brothers Kuang-Ya and Kuang-Hua, and many nieces, nephews, and extended family. Kuang-O was preceded in death by: parents Song-Wen Yu and Kin-Shiou Chang, and sisters Kuang-Yu Yu and Kuang-Qing Yu. An informal Celebration of Life memorial will be held on Saturday, August 9th, 10:00 am at Misencik Funeral Home, 36363 Detroit Road, Avon, OH 44011, with a luncheon immediately following. The memorial can be streamed on-line at this link: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/otzrose Kuang-O was a long-time listener and supporter of National Public Radio (NPR). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to support your local NPR station: https://www.npr.org/donations/support