Ling (Irene) Tang Yu, MD
In Memoriam Word has reached us of the passing of the following alumni and friends. The School of Medicine and Dentistry expresses its sympathy to their loved ones.
Dr. I. Ling (Irene) Tang Yu (Res ’46, Flw ’50), a retired pediatrician and a generous Rochester philanthropist, died Jan. 29, 2017 in San Mateo, Calif. She was 100 years old. Dr. Yu was the widow of Dr. Paul N. Yu (’46 Res, ’48M), former chief of Cardiology at URMC, who died in 1991. They had four daughters: Pauline, Diane, Lorraine and Corrine. Rochester alumnus Jules Cohen (’53, MD ’57) was also a close friend and extended family member, and co-authored the biography Paul Yu Remembered, in which Dr. Irene Yu wrote, “In our family of four daughters, Paul considered Jules his adopted son.” The book includes a chronicle of the Yu’s courtship and their convergent paths to Rochester. Born in China, Dr. Irene Yu graduated from medical school in 1940 and worked as an assistant pediatrician and medic treating war-related casualties at the municipal hospital in Chongqing. In 1942, she joined Dr. Paul Yu at the National Medical College and worked as an assistant resident pediatrician. They were married in 1944. The following year, she won a major national fellowship from the Ministry of Education that enabled her to complete postgraduate studies at Duke University, and she completed further training at Willard Parker Hospital for Contagious Diseases in New York City. On the recommendation of Duke’s medical school dean, URMC selected her as an assistant resident in Pediatrics, followed by a two-year Pediatrics research fellowship. There, she advocated for her husband and helped him secure a paid fellowship under then-chair of Medicine, Dr. William McCann. The Yus were reunited in Rochester in 1946. While raising their daughters in Rochester, Dr. Irene Yu worked at medical facilities including the UR’s University Health Service, and held posts at Holley Central School District, Monroe Developmental Center and SUNY Brockport’s Health Sciences Division. Pillars of the URMC community, the Yus were generous supporters of the medical school, and established the Paul N. Yu Professorship in Cardiology. After her husband’s death, Dr. Irene Yu funded a charitable trust that will eventually flow to the Dr. Paul N. Yu Heart Center at the University. “Irene continued the support of medicine here at Strong, and her family is very loyal to their Rochester roots,” said the first Yu Professor in Cardiology Bradford C. Berk, MD, PhD, former URMC CEO who now directs the University of Rochester Neurorestoration Institute. “I am very grateful for the endowed Yu professorship which allowed me to pursue new avenues of research.” Donations in her memory may be made to: The Paul N. Yu Heart Center, URMC, 300 East River Rd., Box 270032, Rochester, N.Y., 14627.
Norman L. Avnet (MD ’53, Res ’56) Robert J. Baliff (MD ’57) Gerald R. Berg (MD ’67) Daniel Francis Cahill (MS ’62, PhD ’70) Richard James Collins (MD ’47, Res ’49) Jerald L. Connelly (’50, PhD ’58) Ann Connors-Adler (PhD ’74, MD ’82, Res ’85) William L. Craver (Res ’93) Fredrick T. Cross (MS ’61, PhD ’67) Merle Clark Cunningham (’66, MD ’71) Gordon D. Currie (Res ’53) Gregory August Curt (MD ’77) Stanley S. Dunkelman (’52, Res ’56) Donald M. Eldredge (MD ’55) Marvin Allen Epstein (MD ’48) Donald E. Faulkner (MS ’62) Albert Fink (MD ’54) Dwight W. Fitterer (MD ’57) William G. Gamble (MD ’59) Robert Eugene George (MS ’61) Malcolm Gorin (MD ’60) William Gough (MD ’76) Donald Roy Grinols (Res ’61) Wilbur Y. Hallett (MD ’53) Donald E. Hammer (MD ’66) Donald A. Henderson (MD ’54, Hnr ’77) Alan R. Johnson (MD ’57) Paul H. Keyes (’47, MS ’47) Martin F. King (MD ’64) Daniel W. Kramer (MD ’47) George A. Krikos (PhD ’59) Paul G. Kuehn (MD ’52) Stephen James Lambrinos MD (’04, MD ’10) Stanley A. Leavy (MD ’40) David John Lechner (MD ’73) Susan Rae Levy (MD ’79) William C. Luft (’52, MD ’56) Paul D. Mahoney (RES ’88) Charles H. Marino (’50, Res ’57) Theodore C. Max (MD ’54, Res ’61) Aaron Miller (MD ’50) Roger F. Milnes (MD ’47) George F. Munro (PhD ’69, MD ’70) Robert D. Neubecker (46, MD ’49) Arthur M. Pappas (MD ’57) John Thomas Parente (MD ’48) Edward J. Roche (’46, MD ’50) Robert E. Rowland (PhD ’64) Marc Allen Rozner (PhD ’80) James L. Secrest (’45, MD ’48) Gustav J. Selbach (MD ’58) Jane Shumway (Res ’54) Francis J. Sobkowski (PhD ’66) Dirk J. Spruyt (MD ’54) Lawrence Paul Tarnacki (MS ’92) Philip L. Townes (PhD ’53, MD ’59, Res ’60, Res ’63) James D. Tulloch (MD ’63) Murphy Thomas Wagner (MS ’62) I. Ling Tang Yu (Res ’46, MS ’50) Edward J. Zebrowski (MD ’53)
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