Min-Sun Chen
| Min-Sun Chen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1921-11-19 Changsha, Hunan, China |
| Died | 2021-05-18 |
| Occupation | professor of history |
| Employer | Lakehead University |
| Partner | |
Min-Sun Chen (19 November 1921 – 18 May 2021 (aged 99)) was a historian of China and Japan who taught at Lakehead University for most of his life and was Professor Emeritus of History.[1]
Career
Chen was born in Changsha, Hunan, on 19 November 1921. He joined the Department of History at Lakehead University in 1966 and taught Chinese and Japanese history full time until the mandatory retirement age in 1986, then continued to teach as a sessional lecturer for roughly another twenty years. He chaired the department from 1978 to 1984. His doctorate in history came from the University of Chicago in 1971, and his scholarship centred on East Asian history, with several publications on relations between China and the West. He was the last of the first generation of historians recruited by Tom Miller in the university's early years.[1]
He remained active in the Canadian Asian Studies Association, and in 2015 the American Historical Association gave him a lifetime membership in recognition of more than fifty years of continuous membership.[1]
Community and gifts
Chen worked with local high-school teachers, many of them Lakehead graduates, to start the Thunder Bay branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (now the Canadian International Council), which has since brought hundreds of speakers to the university, among them former prime ministers and foreign ambassadors. He belonged to Trinity United Church.[1]
In 1991 he set up an endowed research award in history. Together with his wife, Anita, he also established the Lakehead University 30th Anniversary International Graduate Award in the social sciences and humanities, and in 2017 their donation funded the International Student Lounge on the lower level of the Chancellor Paterson Library. Colleagues remembered his cheerfulness and the printouts of humorous sayings and advice he handed out when he visited the department.[1]
Family
His wife was Anita, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Lakehead, who died in January 2020. He died on 18 May 2021, six months before his 100th birthday.[1]
Other records
An obituary-index entry dated 22 May 2021 lists this person.[2]
Membership in the retirees' association
The "Who are we?" list of members printed in the June 2009 issue of RALU News includes this person, which shows membership in the Retirees' Association of Lakehead University by then.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Entry for Min-Sun Chen, "In Memoriam", Retirees' Association of Lakehead University, https://www.lakeheadretirees.ca/in-memoriam/ (accessed 31 October 2026). Archived copy on datum.locker.
- ↑ The Chronicle-Journal, 22 May 2021, p. 3(D)
- ↑ "Who are we? A listing of members", PDF pp. 7–8, RALU News, vol. 1, no. 3 (June 2009), Retirees' Association of Lakehead University. Archived copy on datum.locker (original PDF listed at the association's archived newsletters page).