Alexander Tseng Jr.

Alexander Tseng, Jr., M.D. Died peacefully in his home in Palo Alto on July 10, 2006 of brain cancer at the age of 54. His wife, Cynthia Tolles Tseng, was at his side. Cindy and Alex had recently returned from an idyllic 10-day vacation on Maui in Hawaii to renew their wedding vows, where they were surrounded by the love of their families and several dear friends. Loved ones from around the world attended. Born August 10, 1951 in Harvey, IL, as Martha and Alexander Tseng, Sr.'s first child, Alex moved from Rochester, NY, to Palo Alto in 1963, where he lived most of his life, attending Jordan Middle School and Palo Alto High School. He later earned a B.A. from Stanford University in 1973, and then spent the summer in China during the Cultural Revolution. Upon his return, he began work on an M.D. from the University of Chicago's Pritzer School of Medicine, which he obtained in 1977. Alex completed his Internship and Residency at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center in 1980, where he met and married his wife, Cynthia Tolles Tseng, a Registered Nurse and researcher. He then worked in the General Medical Clinic at the Oakland Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center until 1981. Alex completed a Fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford University and joined the Research Fellowship at the Howard Hughes Institute at UCSF in 1983. He loved music, snow skiing, hiking and traveling, and saw the world with his parents, wife and children. Alex was committed to research and education. He was an Instructor of Medicine at the UCSF Medical Center from 1983 to 1984, an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Residence until 1988, an Assistant Research Biochemist/Research Associate in the Cardiovascular Research Institute until 1991, and became an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the UCSF Medical Center in 1990. He served as a Visiting Scientist at Genentech Corporation in the Laboratory of Axel Ullrich from 1987 to 1988, and also worked at UCSF's Head and Neck Oncology Clinic, where he was later named Clinic Head. He was a Staff Physician in the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital in the Division of Oncology until 1990. He established a private practice before joining the Southbay Oncology Hematology Partners in 1993, where he worked until he retired due to illness in October of 2004. He was named Director of Hospice of the Home Health Plus Agency of Santa Clara, Chairman of the Institutional Review Board and Chairman of the Division of Oncology of the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, and was a member of the board of directors for the Santa Clara County and the California Division of the American Cancer Society. A noted lecturer and contributing author of over twenty published manuscripts and thirty abstracts, Alex also served on the editorial board of a variety of scholarly journals. Dr. Alexander Tseng gratefully received many honors and awards, including the Ambroglia Research Award, American Cancer Society's Career Development Award, the Schaper and Brummer Award for Excellence in Medical Research, the UCSF AIDS Clinical Research Center Award, and was consistently named one of Checkbook Magazine's Outstanding Physician Specialists. However, he was most honored by the love of his family and the appreciation of his patients, who responded to his excellent care with an outpouring of gratitude. Alex is survived by his wife, Cynthia Tolles Tseng; children, Michael Alexander Tseng, a Princeton graduate who is pursuing graduate degrees in bio-engineering and medicine, Jocelyn Marie Tseng, a Stanford pre-med junior and two-time Collegiate National Champion rugby player, and Peter Andrew Tseng, a talented student and athlete starting at Paly in the fall; father, Alexander Tseng, Sr., former Chief Electrical Engineer at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center; mother, Martha Tseng of Palo Alto; and parents-in-law, E. Leroy and Martha Tolles of San Marino, CA. Other family members include his brother and fellow Stanford graduate, Dr. Gregory Tseng, his wife Sue and their children, Matthew and Katie; his sister Teresa and her husband Dr. Wallace Welder, an aerospace engineer, both also Stanford graduates, and their children Eric, Scott and Hope. This extraordinary man will be missed and mourned by many. He never wavered in his good humor, spirit of service, deepest love for his family and excellent example in the many lives he touched. Alex would surely say that he lived a full life, richly abundant in love, learning and joy. Memorial Services will be held at 10:30 AM, Saturday, July 22, 2006, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Dr. Tseng's memory may be made to cancer research, c/o Dr. Michael Prados, UCSF Neuro-Oncology, 400 Parnassus A808, SF, CA 94143. Roller Hapgood and Tinney of Palo Alto