Yung-Tung Wang

Captain Yung T. Wang was born on November 4, 1913 in Shanghai, China to C.T. Wang and W.L. Yu. He was their first child and when he was only fouryears old his mother passed away. His father remarried and he would eventually have eight brothers and sisters. Their family was somewhat impoverished and true to his nature for the rest of his life, Captain Wang looked out for his younger siblings. He went on to graduate from the Wu Song Merchant Marine School at the top of his class and became a pioneer in China’s merchant marine industry when he was appointed as one of the captains on China’s first generation of international merchant carriers.

In 1949 Captain Wang moved to Taiwan and in July of 1949, he married Han Wen Yu in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In December 1955, their only child, Victor, was born and in the early 1960s, they moved to Taipei. Family life was not easy as Captain Wang was often away from home for up to four years at a time due to his job. In 1964, the whole family moved from Taipei to Long Island New York where Captain Wang worked as the general manager for the Mai Hwa Shipping Company in lower Manhattan. There he oversaw their entire global shipping operations. In 1972, Captain Wang retired and moved his family into the Viewridge neighborhood in Seattle because the weather was milder and so Victor could attend the University of Washington to study engineering. After retiring, he and his wife traveled to Europe and China, where most of his relatives lived. He was known as a generous man and would not hesitate to help a friend or family member financially and would frequently write letters in order to communicate with those abroad.

Much to his joy, his grandchildren, Amanda and David, were born in 1988 and 1992 respectively. Captain Wang was especially elated that he had a granddaughter because he had never had a daughter. While they were growing up, he loved spoiling his grandchildren rotten by making sure while they were with grandpa they ate whatever they wanted as well as taking them frequently on indulgent trips to the shopping mall. He also saw exercise as being very important so for many years he would walk around the neighborhood every day, and many people in the area came to know or at least recognize him that way. He enjoyed gardening in his backyard and planted roses, a plum and pear tree as well as annual crops of various vegetables. Neighbors as well as friends will remember that Captain Wang was very generous in sharing his bountiful harvest. Although he hadn’t been physically able to plant or maintain even his favorite tomato plants for several years, Amanda helped him plant and nurture one last batch in May along with some snow pea plants.

On July 20, 2011, Captain Wang went in for a routine physical but in the week before he developed a sudden loss of appetite. He was then diagnosed on July 29, 2011 with an advanced aggressive stomach cancer that had caused him to be very weak due to internal bleeding. When he received the news, he merely nodded his head calmly and said he was already 97 years old and had experienced everything he wished for in life, so what more could he want? The timing of events was a blessing as Amanda had just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and David from Garfield High School and both of them were at home so they could spend as much time with him as possible. He would say repeatedly that he was especially grateful for his family and just wished to die peacefully and quietly. He expressed the desire that no one else should know about the diagnosis because he did not wish to trouble others or to make them worry about him. Captain Yung T. Wang passed away at his home at 12:10am on August 4, 2011, only two weeks after the initial doctor’s visit, surrounded by the family he loved and devoted his life to. We will miss him very much.

Memorial Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, August 13, 2011 - 10:30 AM at Acacia Funeral Home, Seattle, Washington.