Dr. Huang Chang-Jen

1916 - 2012

Dr. Huang Chang-Jen, 1916 - 2012, industrialist, calligrapher and philanthropist was born in Liuyang, Hunan, China to Huang Yin-Chiu and Li Chin-Hsang. He received his diploma from Wuhan University in 1938 in Civil Engineering and married Ouyang Yu in the same year.

After the war, he continued his education at the University of Michigan and earned his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering in 1954. In 1955, he moved to Thailand and established the U.S. Summit Corporation Bangkok Branch. By 1968, as General Manager of Summit Industrial Corporation (Panama), he leased and rebuilt the Bangchak Oil Refinery from the Thai government and built one of the largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia. He retired in 1981.

After the death of his first wife, C.J. married Yip Ha-Lin in 1983 and established the C.J. Huang Foundation to help various U.S.-based Asian American community-based organizations and the Ouyang Yu Foundation to help various educational institutions in Hunan China. He built the outpatient wing of the Liuyang People's Hospital and funded the building of the Ouyang Yu Experimental Middle School in Heng Dong, Hunan in 1968. He endowed the Huang Scholarship at the Central Connecticut State University and in 1990 he received the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from CCSU. With Project Hope, he helped build the Shanghai Children Hospital and the Wuhan University School of Nursing.

He published the Huang Chao Shan Sheng Copybook for Calligraphy in 1995 and went on to publish several other works on calligraphy. His works of calligraphy were shown at seven exhibitions sponsored by the World Journal Newspaper between 1997 and 2003. The proceeds from these exhibitions were donated to various charities. C.J. was honored by the City of San Francisco for his remarkable philanthropic engagements. December 29, 1995 was declared C.J. Huang Day by the San Francisco City Council.

He was instrumental in founding the Asian Liver Research Center at Stanford. In 2005, he received the Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Asian American Federation of New York. He received Stanford University Dean's Medal in 2011. He funded the Stanford University's new Liver Center Building in 2012.

Mr. Huang passed away peacefully at home amidst his family on October 30, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Ha-Lin, sisters Chang-Ding and Chang-Rong, and brother Chang-Wei, daughters Assunta, Cecilia, Donna and Duen-Jau, sons Paul and Charles, step-daughters Alice and Sheila, grandchildren Kai-Ching, Kai-Ming, Paul-Michael, Min-Li, Mirjam, Michael, Sandy, and Edward, step-grandchildren Patrick and Priscilla, and great-grandchildren Inaki, Jonah and Hazel.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at Roller & Hapgood & Tinney, 980 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA (650-328-1360). Chinese Buddhist Chants at 9:00AM and Thai Buddhist ceremonies at 10:00AM. Private interment will be held in Greenwich, CT. 100th day prayers will be held in Bangkok.

In lieu of flowers, please make a tax deductible donation to the C.J. Huang Foundation or the Ouyang Yu Foundation, PO Box 1264, Livingston Manor, NY 12758.