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Sunnyvale Chapel and Crematory obituary
174 North Sunnyvale Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Telephone: (408) 736-6294
California License FD#: FD910
Website: http://www.spanglermortuary.com/

Ming Hung "Richard" Yu, MD
February 5, 1936 - December 31, 2014

Ming Hung Yu passed peacefully while surrounded by family in his Sunnyvale, California home after a rich nearly 80 year life that concluded with a battle with stomach cancer on the morning of December 31, 2014. Ming Hung was born in Jiu Dou of Xinwu town in Taiwan to Yu Jin Xin and Yu Fanjiang Ju Mei on February 5, 1936. He was the eighth of nine children whose parents were hardworking rice farmers. He considered himself to be very shy and ordinary, but he was determined to be successful in school. In 6th grade, he was selected by his peers to be the school’s first mayor. He went on to be the recipient of the Magistrate’s Award for being the top graduate. In 2010, he was named Outstanding Alumnus by his Xinwu grade school. Though Ming Hung loved Chinese literature, he decided to pursue a more practical field of study. He tested into the agricultural college, putting him on a path to his eventual work as a researcher. After graduation, he was well respected for his work in a prominent job with the Taiwan Provincial Government, Department of Agriculture. Despite having limited English ability, Ming Hung moved to the United States in July 1965 to continue his education and earned a masters degree in genetics from Texas A&M University in 1967. Five years later, he earned a Ph.D. from Iowa State University. In 1968, he married Chin Chu Fan. They had their first child, Jennifer, in 1970. After passing his Ph.D. defense and dissertation, Ming Hung began working as a geneticist at O.M. Scott and Sons Company in Marysville, Ohio. There, his second child, Emily, was born in 1973. In 1975, Ming Hung proudly became a US citizen and also adopted “Richard” to be his English name. That year, he moved his family to Salinas, California where he accepted a position as a geneticist with the US Department of Agriculture. His third child, Roger, was born there in 1978. The US Agriculture Research Station is where he performed his most important research. Dr. Ming H. Yu’s discovery of sugar beet resistance to nematodes (microscopic worms) was a first-up to that point, no prior research had reported nematode-resistance with any crop. Over 30 years, he produced many significant papers and was invited to present his research discoveries domestically and in several international venues. In 1992, he was invited by Taiwan’s prime minister to attend the National Construction Seminar and a reception with President Lee Teng-hui-a true honor. He was highly satisfied with what he achieved during his career considering his initial limitations with the English language. He retired in 2004. Retirement brought 10 years of continued discovery, learning, and enjoyment of life. Ming Hung and Chin Chu traveled extensively through five continents-zip lining through the rainforests of Costa Rica, hiking through the ruins of Machu Picchu, ascending the Roof of the World in Tibet. In between travels, he cultivated other interests, including gardening, Chinese calligraphy and learning the Chinese stringed instrument known as erhu. Above all, Ming Hung Yu was grateful for his sincere and devoted wife of more than 46 years, Chin Chu “Jean” Yu, and proud of his three accomplished children who gave him six beautiful grandchildren. He is survived by his wife; his three children, Jennifer (Rick Kyutoku) of Cupertino, California with their daughters, Kaitlyn and Allison, Emily (Aaron Pollock) of San Francisco, California with their children, Lucas and Hannah, and Roger (Jo Marie Janco) of Rochester, Minnesota with their daughters, Eliana and Celine; his brothers, Yu Ming Fang, Yu Ming Twi, Yu Ming Sung, and Yu Ming Lang; his sisters, Yu Yu-hsiang and Yu Yu-lian; and many other in-laws, nephews, and nieces. He was preceded in death by his parents, Yu Jin Xin and Yu Fanjiang Ju Mei and his two eldest sisters, Wu Xin Mei and Hsieh Lee Mei.