Yili Lu

Yili Lu, 55, of Carmel, Indiana, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, December 9th, 2020, at Carmel Health and Living Community. He was born on June 8th, 1965, in Shandong, China.

Yili is survived by his loving wife of 32 years, Xiaomei; son Wei (Ray) and daughter-in-law Emily; and his grandson Desmond.

Yili was born the son of farmers in coastal China. Through hard work and with a devotion to learning and education, he overcame his humble beginnings and was a star student in school. After scoring highly on his college entrance exams, which, at the time, essentially decided a person’s standing in life, he was selected for a full scholarship to study engineering at Northwest University in Xi’an, one of China’s leading universities. It was during his college years that he met the love of his life, Xiaomei. They married in 1989 and gave birth to their first and only son, Wei (Ray), in 1990.

In 1997, after a successful tenure at Northwest University, Yili was chosen as a visiting scholar to the United States and was invited to the University of Iowa to continue his pursuits in education and research. Although he was hesitant to leave his family and home country, he accepted this invitation and saw it as an opportunity to make a better life for his wife and son. Soon after immigrating to Iowa, despite having to learn a second language and adjust to a new culture, Yili was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa. Xiaomei and Wei (Ray) re-united with him in the US in 1998. Yili earned his Ph.D. in 2003.

In addition to his academic accomplishments, Yili was an excellent son, a loving husband, and a terrific father. In his free time, he liked to play billiards and badminton, and was intra-mural champion in doubles badminton during his time at the University of Iowa. He also loved to fish and took his son fishing whenever there was good weather. His favorite food was dumplings, because it reminded him of home. Despite not being extremely wealthy early in his working career, he sent money to support his parents. He had many friends, who admired his generosity and willingness to go the extra mile to help others. He was also known for his infectious personality and sense of humor and was often found with a big smile on his face that made others do the same.

Yili was loved deeply and will be greatly missed, but never forgotten. Just one year before he passed away, Yili met his grandson, Desmond, who is given the middle name of Yili and carries on his grandfather’s legacy.

The family will be having a Zoom viewing for his memorial at Leppert Mortuaries from 3-5pm on Sunday, December 13th, 2020. Guests are invited to join via Zoom link that will distributed by the family. To send flowers, please order through George Thomas Florist at: 317-353-9161. Please visit www.georgethomasflorist.com for floral arrangement options until 4:00pm Saturday for delivery prior to 2pm Sunday 12/13/20, addressed to Yili Lu at Leppert Mortuaries, 740 East 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46240.