Newsletter No. 27

CUHK Newsletter No.27 February 1992 A former member of the Trade Advisory Board and the Industry Development Board, Dr. Fung is currently a member of the Hong Kong Government Public Service Commission, the Central Policy Unit and the Advisory Committee to the Securities and Futures Commission. In 1988 , he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his commitment to public service. Since 1st October 1991 , Dr. Fung has succeeded Baroness Dunn as chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Dr. Fung has been closely associated with The Chinese University for many years particularly through his service on the advisory boards of the Two-Year and the Three-Year MBA Programmes and the sponsorship of the Li & Fung Public Lectures on Commerce and Industry at the University. Funeral Service for Dr. Painan R. Wu Dr. Painan R. Wu, the University Librarian, passed away on 10th January 1992 at the Prince of Wales Hospital at the age of 54. A funeral service for Dr. Wu was held on 18th January at the Chung Chi College Chapel. Dr. Wu's two daughters flew from the States to console their grieving mother and pay their last respects to their father. They were joined by Dr. Wu's mother and brother-in-law who came from Taiwan to attend the service. The funeral service began at 10 a.m. with Dr. the Revd. Daniel Chow offering words of consolation. After hymn singing, prayers and bible reading, Mr. David Gilkes, the University Bursar, delivered a eulogy in appreciation of the late University Librarian. Dr. Wu's brother-in-law then represented the bereaved family to thank the University and all those present in the service. The whole ceremony lasted for about an hour and there were close to 300 participants, including Dr. Wu's relatives and friends in Hong Kong, staff members of the University Library, and other members of the University from different units and departments. An Appreciation of Dr. Painan Wu Excerpt from eulogy delivered by Mr. David Gilkes, University Bursar In the short time that Dr. Painan Wu has been with this university those of us who have had the privilege of working with him had come to the conclusion that here was a man who had the University very much in his heart. In those 16 months it was clear that his unassuming enthusiasm was one of foresight and that he had the vision to move the University Library System forward to another pinnacle of excellence. He was going to be fortunate in the resources he had in hand and those of us who are seeing the new splendid eleven storey extension to the library building now being erected can only mourn the fact that one of the prime planners of this building has left us just at a time when it was going to be possible for him to show to all that he had those qualities which we knew he had i.e. scholarly attributes, business acumen, humility, integrity, and courteousness.... Dr. Wu's background was not one of pure library administration. He had had a very broad education, as befits anyone who had been bom in China and went to Taiwan in 1949. He later took a BA in languages at National Cheng Chi University in Taipei and this was to be followed by an MA in library science at the University of Michigan, an MA in languages at the University of Utah and a Ph.D. in history at the University of Utah. This wide educational background stood him in good stead for his subsequent career, which began with being a director of the Aziz S. Atiyo Library for Middle Eastern Studies. It was here that he increased his knowledge of the insoluble politics of that area, and those who heard him speak on the recent Iraqi war realized that here was a man who had thorough understanding of a very complicated subject. His subsequent career saw him as director of the DonaldB. Watt Library, a school for international training in Brattleboro, and thereafter director of the George T. Hall Library at Bloomfield College inNew Jersey and subsequently director of the Frank E. Gannett Memorial Library and Media Center at the Utica College of Syracuse University. In all these positions he showed a thorough grasp of the issues concerned, was well aware of the need for internationalism in running libraries. . . . He had Fellowships from the National Defence Foreign Language School and Harvard University and in addition to Chinese, he knew Japanese, Arabic, French and the German languages. 2

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDE2NjYz