I was born in 1932 in Shanghai, China. My grandfather was an entrepreneur who had many business ventures, including banking, shipping, and chemical works. He had three sons and five daughters. My father was the second son, and I am the eldest grandson in my grandfather’s line. We lived in a secluded manor where my grandfather built his mansion of over a dozen rooms with separate servants’ quarters. Across from this mansion, he built a string of six three-story houses for his three sons and three of his daughters, separated by a large courtyard where two grass tennis courts were kept. I recall that throughout the elementary school years, I had private tutors for schooling, and we seldom were allowed to leave the compound by ourselves. These were the years of the Japanese takeover of Manchuria, the long civil war between Nationalists and Communists, the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, and World War II. Nevertheless, my childhood years were well shielded behind the closed heavy iron gate leading into the estate, under the watchful eyes of a loyal gatekeeper whose face I still vividly recall to this day.
The takeover of Shanghai in 1950 by the Communists changed my whole life as I was a freshman in college. My major field was in electrical engineering, and I found that I was unable to learn anything at a school stifled with endless student unrest, riots, and strikes on the streets. I was considered an anti-revolutionary. In Spring of 1950, I found an opportunity to leave Shanghai with the encouragement of my grandfather and my parents. I went south to Canton and one evening slipped across the border and crossed into Hong Kong with a group of refugees. The Korean War broke out while I was in Hong Kong. In July, 1950, with some help from family friends in Hong Kong, I came to the United States to continue my college education. My mother was educated in a Catholic missionary school in Shanghai, and she influenced me to enroll at Manhattan College, a school run by the Catholic Christian Brothers, in New York City. I earned a bachelor degree in electrical engineering in 1952. I went on to graduate school at the University of Illinois under a university fellowship. I was awarded a master degree in electrical engineering in 1953.
During this period, my family in China was completely broken up under the Communist regime. First, my father’s older brother committed suicide under the continuing pressure of the Communist government to surrender all the family’s assets to the government. Then, my father and grandfather, physically weakened, died under similar pressure. I lost all contacts with my family for the next 25 years.
Upon leaving Illinois in the Fall of 1953, I decided to go to Taiwan, the island of Free China, to contribute what I could to resist the takeover by the Chinese Communists. I bought passage on a cargo freighter that sailed from New York City, through the Panama Canal, and across the Pacific, on a seven week trip. I arrived in Taiwan in October, 1953.
On arrival, I found a job with the Taiwan Power Company in the construction of electric power stations. In 1955, I volunteered and was granted special permission to join the Chinese (Taiwan) Air Force where I was trained as a radar officer. I was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned active duty at one of the air transport bases. On several occasions, I took part in air-drop missions to support the anti-Communist guerilla forces on the mainland. In 1957, I resigned from the Air Force to participate in the planning of future power projects at the Taiwan Power Company. With the rapid industrial growth, the demand for electricity greatly outstripped the supply in Taiwan. Later the same year, I was nominated to participate in the Eisenhower Atom for Peace program in the United States. I was trained in nuclear science and engineering at North Carolina State University, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and returned to Taiwan in late 1959. It was at this time that I married my wife, Dora (nee Hsia). I was the appointed as an Associate Professor with the Institute of Nuclear Science, the National Tsing Hua University, in Taiwan. I joined in the construction and start up of a nuclear research reactor, the first in the Far East. I gave lectures to the graduate students in nuclear engineering, and I set up a radiation safety program which formed the basis of the Radiological Safety legislation in Taiwan. During this period Dora and I had our two children, Nancy, born in 1961, and Mark, born in 1964.
In late 1964, I felt the need for further education. I applied for advanced study in nuclear science and was admitted to the Nuclear Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dora brought the children to join me in the Boston area in 1965 and share the life of a graduate student. I was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1965 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1968. Upon completion of my graduate study, the family moved to a small apartment in Forest Hills, NY, and I went to work for the Nuclear Engineering Department of Consolidated Edison Company in New York City. In 1971 Dora and I felt we could afford our first house and moved our family to suburban Chatham, NJ. We raised our children in Chatham through high school. Over a 25 year career with Con Ed, I went through the ranks of Engineer, Senior Engineer, Division Engineer, Chief Nuclear Engineer, and finally the General Manager at the Indian Point nuclear power station. In 1993, I sought early retirement from the company for health reasons.
I give special thanks and love to my wife Dora, who has shared my life with me and taken so much care of me and our children. Dora has had to endure many burdens resulting from my diabetes and ensuing medical problems late in my life. I am proud of my children and grateful that all of my grandchildren know me. Nancy attended Brown University and Yale Medical school and is now a physician specializing in endocrinology, practicing in San Antonio, TX. She has three children, Michael, currently a senior at Brown University, Mark, a freshman at the University of Texas at Dallas, and Mimi, a freshman in high school. Mark and his wife Julia are both professors of physics and materials science engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. They have one son, Duncan, who is in eighth grade.
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Min Li (Michael) Lee passed away peacefully on September 13, 2011, in the company of his wife and children. He was born on February 18, 1931 in Shanghai, China. As a child he lived through World War II and the civil war between Nationalists and Communists. At eighteen he left China to attend Manhattan College, earning a bachelor’s degree, and then the University of Illinois, earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering. In 1953 he went to Taiwan and volunteered in the Air Force. Later, he joined the Taiwan Power Company and participated in Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program, receiving training in nuclear science at Argonne and Oak Ridge National Labs. Returning to Taiwan in 1959, he helped build the first research nuclear reactor there. He met and married Dora. They had a daughter, Nancy, in 1961 and a son, Mark, in 1964. In 1964 he returned to the US to complete a PhD. in nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon finishing his PhD., he joined Con Edison in New York City. Over a 25 year career he rose to become Chief Nuclear Engineer and General Manager of its Indian Point power plant. He and Dora moved to San Antonio in 2004. He has been active with the Holy Trinity Catholic Church and enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife Dora, his children Nancy and Mark and Mark’s wife Julia, and grandchildren Michael, Mark, and Mimi Fitzpatrick and Duncan Lee. A memorial mass will be held Saturday, September 24 at 10:00 am at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 20523 Huebner Rd. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the American Diabetes Association www.diabetes.org. To sign the online guestbook, please log on to www.sunsetnorthfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements under the direction of Sunset North Funeral Home, San Antonio, TX.
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