Lan Sheng Hao

He was born in Shandong Province, China. He was the first son of Shih Hui Wang and Yun Shi Hao. He spent part of his early childhood in China, as his father Yun Shi was a general for Chiang Kai-Shek, and they were fighting the Japanese, and then the Communists. They eventually fled the mainland for Taiwan, where Lan Sheng grew up and went to school. He was admitted to National Taiwan University, the most prestigious school in Taiwan, graduating with a degree in Business Administration. In 1964, he came to the United States for graduate studies at the University of Kansas, from which he received a Master’s degree in Accounting.

After graduating, he moved to St. Louis, where he met Whai-Ming. They married in 1969 and moved to Chicago. Lan Sheng and Whai-Ming then had two children, Yvonne and Wayne. Lan Sheng was a devoted father and family man. He spent a lot of time with his siblings and extended relatives in Chicago. He was also active in the Chicago-area Chinese community.

Professionally, Lan Sheng had a long career at the Fortune 500 company Helene Curtis, starting as an accountant, and eventually getting promoted to VP of Finance. He then was recruited to work in China as the country started developing. He spent the latter part of his professional life as a CFO in Beijing, Shanghai, and Macau. He fully retired in 2007, and he and Whai-Ming settled in Irvine, California to become full-time golfers and world travelers. In recent months, he was very happy going with Whai-Ming to visit Wayne in China and many old friends in Taiwan. He and Whai-Ming also visited Boston a week ago to see Yvonne and her family. He spent his last three days in Irvine playing golf, and was delighted at shooting the lowest scores of his life.

Lan will live on through Whai-Ming, Yvonne, Wayne, his granddaugthers Audrey and Madeleine, and all of his family and friends.