Yung Fong Chik

Yung-fong Chik died in the early morning of 7/26 at home after battling non small cell lung cancer for the last fourteen months. She was 66 years old. Yung-fong lived a purposeful life for herself and an impactful one for others around her. Without reservation, she was always equitably supportive to her colleagues, selflessly generous to her true friends and above all, completely devoted to her entire family. We are heartbroken.

Born in Hong Kong to Ping-yue Li (mother) and Kwei-kwong Chik (father), Yung-fong lived there for the first 35 years of her life. She was the youngest of eight children born to her parents and four surviving ones. Right at birth, she was given the nickname Mimi by her mother which means the "little precious one" in Shanghainese where her mother was from. For her entire life, she was known and called by her friends as Mimi more often than her official name Yung-fong. Even though she was the youngest of three girls, she took up the protector role of her two older sisters from the neighborhood bullies since she was three years of age. A fact that tickled her mother a great deal who was very proud of Mimi, her little precious one.

Mimi graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University in 1982 with a degree in Geography. Upon graduation and having realized she did not want to be a geographer, Mimi found employment in administration with Aoki Corporation, a Japanese construction company founded in 1947. Aoki established a branch office in Hong Kong in 1976. By 1983, Hong Kong became Aoki's largest overseas office and was instrumental in the construction of Hong Kong's new subway system Mass Transit Railway (MTR). Management in Aoki in Hong Kong soon realized Mimi's meticulous analytical skills and transferred her from administration to the comptroller's office. Mimi worked for Aoki from 1982 till 1993. She left Aoki in May1993 with the title of the Corporate Comptroller. Mimi was highly regarded and widely recognized during her 11 years with Aoki. She represented the Hong Kong office in Aoki's worldwide QC enhancement competition held in Tokyo in three separate occasions and won the Silver award in February 1984.

Mimi immigrated to the US in June, 1993. Upon arriving in NJ, she took accounting courses at Middlesex Community College to familiarize herself with the US financial terminology. From 1994 to 1998, she worked as the comptroller for three real estate development firms. Mimi began working for Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), in Plainsboro, in 1998 in a temporary position and became a permanent employee in 1999. She spent 23 years with BMS and retired in May 2021 as the Director of Compliance and Reporting. Never afraid of setting a worthwhile goal for herself, Mimi started taking business courses at Riders University in 2002 and completed the MBA program in 2004. While at BMS, she was awarded the President's award four times and the prestigious CFO's GBO award in 2016.

In addition to her own successful careers, Mimi was always generous in mentoring young people, encouraging many to pursue advance degrees. Her nephew Andrew in particular benefited both personally and professionally by his loving aunt's many invaluable advices.

In her spare time, Mimi enjoyed travel with her soul mate Fiona whom she met at Hong Kong Baptist University while they were studying Geography together. They have been best friends for over forty years. Mimi and Fiona were truly two peas in a pod. She also had a passion in playing Mahjong with good friends and followed by sumptuous meals afterwards. She was affiliated with both Jireh Church in Marlboro and the Cornerstone Church in Somerset.

In addition to Fiona, Mimi is survived by her older brother, Abraham in Hong Kong and two older sisters, May-fong and Yee-fong, both in NJ. She had four nephews and three grandnephews. Abraham's sons Mark and Bendey with wife Rebecca are all in Hong Kong. May's son Isaac is in NJ and so is Yee-fong's son Andrew with wife Elizabeth. There are two grandnephews in NJ and one in Hong Kong.

Friends and family are invited to visit on Saturday, August 2nd from 2:00PM to 4:00PM at Freeman Manalapan Marlboro Funeral Home, 344 Route 9 North, Manalapan, NJ 07726. A funeral service will be held at the funeral home at 3:00PM. To leave a condolence or find directions, please visit www.freemanfuneralhomes.com.