Ernest C. Kung

1931-2018

 Professor Ernest C. Kung passed away peacefully at the age of 87 on January 27, 2018 in Gaithersburg, MD.  Dr. Kung enjoyed a long career as a scientist and teacher at the University of Missouri-Columbia.  His professional legacy is his work on long-range forecasting, atmospheric energetics, and blocking anticyclones.  He founded and led the University’s General Circulation Research Project for three decades.  His personal legacy is as a much beloved and profoundly devoted father and grandfather.

 Dr. Kung was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1931, the eldest of five children born to a prominent lawyer who was also a 77th generation descendant of the influential teacher Confucius.  In 1936, his family returned to Taiwan.  Occupied by Japan, Taiwan was a frequent target of bombing raids during World War II.  Having survived the horrors of the war, Dr. Kung later attended the prestigious National Taiwan University.  Graduation brought a year of compulsory service in the Reserve Officer Training Corp.  It was here that he was first introduced to the science of meteorology. 

 After his year of compulsory service, Dr. Kung was planning to accept a scholarship to study sweet corn at Rutgers University.  However, divine intervention arrived in the form of a military recall of reserve officers back into active duty. The graduate position was lost after this compulsory additional year of military service.  This twist of fate led him to accept a scholarship to study agronomy at the University of Arizona,Tucson.  He left Taiwan in February 1958 and embarked on a 48-hour odyssey to Tucson that involved stops in Japan, Guam, Wake Island, Honolulu, Oakland and Burbank. 

 “Actually, to own a big coffee plantation in Brazil was my boyhood (and lifetime) dream,” Dr. Kung wrote later in life.  Neither coffee beans nor sweet corn turned out to be his calling.  Dr. Kung returned to meteorology, and his Master’s thesis, “Influence of Climate on Corn Production,” was his segue from agronomy to climatology.  His year in Tucson was also marked by the introduction of Bill and Jean Estes into his life.  Serving at first as his host family, they soon became his American Family.  Besides teaching Dr. Kung to drive, the Estes Family introduced him to the wonders of his adopted country, providing guidance and support to him and his family over many decades of friendship. 

 After earning his Ph.D. in 1963, Dr. Kung worked as a scientist at the US Department of Commerce’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in the Washington, D.C. area.  In 1967, he received his first grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), joining the faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia.  His research was part of the United Nation’s 60-nation Global Atmospheric Research Project.  Over the years, Dr. Kung’s NSF grants totaled over $1.5 million dollars and became one of the longest running, continuously funded programs in the NSF’s history.

 Among his many professional accomplishments, Dr. Kung received the University’s prestigious Sigma Xi award, which recognized his pioneering contributions to the field of energetics and climatology. This field studies the transfer of energy in the atmosphere. Dr. Kung developed a mathematical model that helped clarify how this transfer of energy affects the weather and made long-range forecasting more reliable.  This information has important applications for industries such as agriculture, insurance and defense. He had nearly 50 publications in scientific journals, and lectured on his work around the world, including in Japan, India, England and Kenya. 

 In addition to his research and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Kung served as Chairman of the Department of Soil and Atmospheric Sciences, and as President of the Graduate Faculty Senate.  Dr. Kung was recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (England) in 1972, and was a 1988 recipient of the Missouri Alumni Association’s Distinguished Faculty Award.  In 1989, he was appointed to the Missouri Commission on Global Climate Change and Ozone Depletion.  A scholarship in his name was established by The University of Missouri’s School of Natural Resources.

 Recalling his early days in Arizona, Dr. Kung and his wife Susan were frequent hosts to Mizzou’s foreign students.  Offering hospitality and encouragement, they served as role models for those finding their way in a new country. In addition, Dr. Kung was a long-time member of the Northwest Rotary Club in Columbia, MO and participated in the exchange of flags with Rotary Clubs around the world.

 Although he was forceful and determined by nature, Dr. Kung was also equally nurturing and loving, as evidenced by his devotion to his children and grandchildren.  He edited innumerable tedious school essays with endless patience, cheerfully attended piano recitals and competitions, spoke about his work as a scientist during grandparents’ day at school, and encouraged his children and grandchildren to make the most of their opportunities and talents.

       Dr. Kung may have abandoned corn and coffee as research interests, but he was forever the gentleman farmer, maintaining a large home garden.  After his retirement in August 1998, he and his wife Susan moved to Town and Country (St. Louis), Missouri where he continued this avocation.  A real joy of his final years was found in sharing his love of gardening with his grandchildren. Fluent in 3 languages, he soon set his life story to paper.  His memoir was serialized and published in the Taiwan Literature Review in 2006.  His final years were spent in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

 He is survived by his devoted wife Susan Kung of Gaithersburg, MD; three of his children, Felicia Kung (Edward Bartz) of Chevy Chase, MD, Denise Kung (David Murphy) of Town and Country, MO, and David Kung (Alice Chiao) of Hillsborough, CA; four grandchildren, Katie Ihnat, Jacqueline Ihnat, Josie Ihnat, and Colton Kung; his sister Cecilia Chang (Che-Meng Chang), brother Felix Kung (Takako Kung) and numerous nephews and nieces.  He is preceded in death by his daughter Eunice, and his sisters Denise Legall and Colette Kung.  Mass of Christian Burial will be offered  at 11 a.m., February 6, 2018 (Tuesday), at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church, 9601 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD  20814 with burial following at All Souls Cemetery, Germantown, MD.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to:

University of Missouri-Columbia

Ernest C. Kung Scholarship, School of Natural Resources

Attn: Anita Carter

103 Natural Resources Building

1111 Rollins Road

Columbia, MO 65211