Francis K. Fong ’59 *63

Frank died Oct. 29, 2015, in Lafayette, Ind., after a brief bout with cancer.

Following his birth in Shanghai, Frank’s family had moved to Hong Kong, fleeing the Communist revolution and leaving behind their considerable assets. Educated by Catholic priests at Wah Yan College, Frank was president of his class and earned a full scholarship to Princeton, where he prospered. He dined at Elm Club, was active in interclub sports, and played the piano. Frank majored in chemistry and earned a Sawyer Fellowship for graduate study, which led to a Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton in 1963. Later that year, Frank married Margareta Jansson of Stockholm, Sweden.

Frank’s career took the couple to Indiana, where in 1968 Frank became the youngest full professor in the history of the Purdue University chemistry department. There he forged a distinguished career in spectroscopy and energy transfer. In his research, Frank definitively overturned the prevailing explication of the role of light in the process of photosynthesis. Not merely brilliant, he was also an accomplished artist and his paintings received numerous awards.      

The class extends its sympathy to Margareta; their children, Christina, Eric, and Peter; and  their six beloved granddaughters.