Wen Chih Fong ’51 *58

Wen was born Feb. 9, 1930, in Shanghai, China. Tutored at home, he was given a classical Chinese education, excelling in calligraphy.

At Princeton, Wen majored in history and belonged to Prospect Club and the Chinese Association.

He earned an MFA in medieval art history at Princeton and joined the faculty in 1954. He earned a Ph.D. in 1958 in Chinese art history and was named professor in 1967. In 1974 he was appointed Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Art History, a general university professorship without restriction as to field of scholarship. He was chairman of the Department of Art and Archaeology and curator of the Oriental collections at the Princeton University Art Museum.

A protégé of Douglas Dillon, Brooke Astor, and John Elliott ’51, Wen was consultative chairman of Asian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After retirement he taught at the universities of Tsinghua and Zhejiang in Beijing and Hangzhou.

Wen died Oct. 3, 2018. He is survived by his wife, Constance Tang Fong; their children, Laurence, Peter, and Serena ’93; his brother Douglass ’61; and brother-in-law Oscar Tang. He was predeceased by his brother Francis ’59.