匹兹堡/哥倫布/辛辛那提消息 

A Memorial Celebration For Cyrus Tsong-Ying Tang

   On a beautiful summer day in mid-July, Pu Ying, my good friend and often-time chauffeur, and I took off from central Ohio to Chicago to attend the memorial service of my eldest half brother (on my father's side), steel tycoon, Cyrus Tsong-Ying Tang (88) who passed away on June 23 in Las Vegas. It was held at the China Pavilion (which bears his name) of Chicago Museum. In attendance were about 200 friends and family members to honor his memory. His son, Michael, who now heads the company (National Materials, Tang Industries, etc., greeted everyone present. The service, conducted by Michael, was short and solemn. Surviving Cyrus are also a daughter, Emily, son-in-law, John Chen and five grandchildren. For many years, my younger brother, sister and brother-in-law all worked for Cyrus' Tang Industries which has been taken over by his son, Michael for many years now since Cyrus retired to Las Vegas. Cyrus hailed from Sheng Tse, a tiny village near Suzhou, raised in Hong Kong, and came to the United States for college. In the best sense of the word, Cyrus was a self-made man who inherited our late father, Tang Ping Ling's business acumen. He built a steel empire from scratch, making Chicago his home base. His mother was a tiny woman with a very big heart, who hailed from a small village outside of Suzhou, called Sheng Tse. Cyrus was an only child on his mother's side. He had a younger adopted sister. On our father's side, I was next in line to him. He was 12 years my senior.

   When I first came to this country in the 1960's for my college education, I spent every summer and winter vacation with Cyrus and his family in Elmhurst, ILL. They were always very kind to me. I remember Cyrus took me to the first concert I ever attended of pianist Rubenstein in Chicago Symphony Hall in the early 1960's. Not being very culturally-minded, Cyrus would drop me off at the Chicago Symphony Hall and pick me up later--he himself never attended the concerts with me. I am ever grateful to him and his late wife, Cecilia, for taking care of me all those summer and winter vacations while I was in college. I enjoyed babysitting their young children Michael and Emily who were such great kids while their parents both went to work. Then in subsequent summers my sister-in-law found me jobs so that I can earn enough for my tuition for the next year. I remember Cyrus would always hold all my earnings for me and return them in one lump sum when summer was over and I was ready to go back to school in the South. How grateful I am to them for taking me in all those summer and winter vacations, providing me a home and security. On weekends, Cyrus would take me out to different sight seeing spots in Chicago. He was truly a very good brother, even though we have different mothers. I will never forget his kindness to me! He and his wife Cecilia, both! Father had instilled in him strong family values, to take good care of his younger brothers and sisters. My younger full brother and sister and brother-in-law all worked for him all their lives. Cyrus was a very filial son. He respected our father and he heeded him. He took care of his family. He offered me a job several times but since I am trained professionally as a musician, and likewise the sister next in line to me, we were the only ones who did not work for him. But I do recall that in years past, every Christmas our whole family would gather in his home in Winnetka where he moved from Elmhurst, Il.
   Besides my contact with him and his family in Elmhurst, Il. in the summer and winter vacations during my college years in the early '60's, I also saw him regularly in Taichung, Taiwan in the late 1970's while my husband and I were teaching at Tunghai University. His mother, my father's first wife, died in Taiwan. I used to visit her every Saturday afternoon for 3 years while I was there. Cyrus' would bring his family to visit his mother there regularly. His mother was only in America once many years ago and he was her only son. Cyrus provided very well for her when she lived and died in Taichung.
   Since he came to the United States in the 50's from Hong Kong, his meteor rose in a straight line. Everything he touched turned to gold. But I don't think he forgot his roots and he did much good for his home country of China, especially where he hailed from near the Suzhou and Wujiang areas. He sponsored many scholars from China with full scholarships so that they can be further trained in this country. He built a Ping Ling Library there in memory of our father. He was an entrepreneur of the highest order, a self-made man, whose success story can scarcely find many parallels. He will be remembered for a long time to come by many whose lives he has touched.