Tuu-Jyi Chai

Dr. Tuu-jyi Chai passed away Monday, January 14, 2019, at the age of 82 in Yangon, Myanmar. He is survived by his three children: Alice Chai Hung, Dr. Toby Chu-Chung Chai, and Amelie Chai, their spouses: Thomas Hung, Amy Fogelstrom Chai, and Stephen Zawmoe Shwe, and seven grandchildren: Elliott Hung, Nicholas Hung, Brian Hung, Nathan Chai, Hannah Chai, Kiran Shwe, and Lotus Shwe. He is also survived by four siblings: Dr. Ping-fu Tsai, Chin-Yi Lee Tsai, Pao-Chu Su Tsai, Hsin-Hua Tsai, their spouses, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Tuu-jyi was born in Peikang, Taiwan in 1936, to a large farming family. Despite having to help with the many agrarian chores, travel long distances to reach school, and disruptions due to World War II, Tuu-jyi managed to excel in his academics. He received his bachelor of science degree in agricultural chemistry from the Taiwan Provincial Institute of Agriculture, Pingtung, Taiwan in 1958. College was also where he met his wife, Karen Ken-tsu Ku, who he married in 1960. Towards the end of his mandatory military service, Tuu-jyi received an unexpected call from his college president to go for a job interview in Keelung. This led to a post as teaching assistant at Taiwan Provincial Maritime College in Keelung where he worked side by side with students to collect and process local resources such algae from the nearby seashore in order to build up the poorly-funded laboratory. His extraordinary aptitude and dedication to laboratory research was noticed by the professors and senior faculty, and under the encouragement of College President Lee, Tuu-jyi went to the United States to continue his graduate studies. Tuu-jyi arrived to Amherst, Massachusetts around midnight during late February 1967 to find four feet of snow on the ground, encountering snow for the first time in his life in his unfamiliar new homeland. Though the cultural and language differences were challenging, he was able to catch up with his peers and succeed with his studies. In 1970, Tuu-jyi received his master’s of science from University of Massachusetts Amherst followed by his PhD in 1972 from the same institution. Tuu-jyi’s professional career in the United States began with fellowships at the National Institutes of the Health where he worked at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Metabolism. In 1979 Tuu-jyi became assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies where he later became full tenured professor. During a sabbatical from the University of Maryland from 1995-1998, Tuu-jyi returned to Taiwan to serve as Dean of the College of Fisheries Science at the National Taiwan Ocean University in Keelung. Tuu-jyi’s long career in both teaching and research, and his strong mentorship of graduate students, have left a trove of notable publications in microbiology and food science, along with generations of highly accomplished professors and researchers who continue his passion for science and laboratory research. After retirement from professorship and the later passing of his wife in 2010, Tuu-jyi went to stay with his daughter Amelie in Yangon, Myanmar where he has spent the last nearly eight years of his life living well cared for by family. He will be remembered and missed by all the family and friends who knew him in Taiwan, the United States, and Myanmar.