Grant Tsuchih Tu

Grant Tsuchih Tu was born in Taipei, Taiwan on May 22, 1925, and passed away peacefully in his sleep in Poway, California on December 23, 2021. He was 96 1/2. He is survived by his devoted wife of almost 73 years Lillian and their three sons Charles (and his wife Linda, children Jeni and Kaii, and son-in-law Kayvon Jordan), Loring, and Samson (and his partner Anna).

Born and raised during the Japanese colonial era (1895 to 1945) in Taiwan, he attended the Taipei First High School (now Jianguo High School) and obtained an M.D. degree from National Taiwan University Medical School in 1950. Following the footsteps of his father, Dr. Tsungming Tu, who was often considered the father of modern medicine in Taiwan, he passed up medical practice for research and was the founding chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Kaohsiung Medical College (now Kaohsiung Medical University) from 1956 to 1965. He did research on the pharmacology of snake venoms and termites, and earned a Doctor of Medical Science degree from the University of Kyoto in 1959.

Grant and his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1966, where he obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1972. They emigrated to the United States in 1972. In his life, Grant had to use four languages in succession—Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese, and English. He became fluent in all of them.

Grant was a voracious reader on subjects such as history, health, and travel. He read many books on longevity and lived a healthy lifestyle. He eschewed alcohol and coffee and got plenty of sleep every day. He liked reading about World War II and watching kung fu movies. He and Lillian traveled often, making, for example, numerous trips to Korea, along with other destinations in Asia. They also went on seventeen cruises in Alaska, Europe, and the Caribbean. He loved dressing up for captains' dinners. 

In time of Covid-19, the family held FaceTime meetings three times a week, becoming closer as a family.

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