Dr. May Siu Yin Kwan Lorenzo, 87, passed away peacefully at home Tuesday, June 23, 2020, following a valiant but relentless battle against metastatic breast cancer. May Sui Yin Kwan was born in Hong Kong, May 4, 1933, the oldest daughter of three children of the late Kwan Man Wai and the late Catherine Kwan Cheung Tse Kwan. She was predeceased by her youngest brother, Robert Kwan.
Following a four-year interruption to her formal education during the war years, May, a lifelong and avid learner, graduated from the Hong Kong Diocesan Girls School in 1954, the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1958 and a Master of Arts in Political Science in 1959, the Simmons College School of Social work with a Master of Social Work in 1973, and a Doctorate in Social Work in 1988. A well-respected and bilingual psychotherapist, May was committed to providing culturally competent mental health services, to the Chinese and South East Asian immigrant and refugee communities suffering severe mental illness, at the South Cove Community Health Center and in private practice in Boston’s Chinatown. Along with teaching at the Simmons School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, May spoke nationally at conferences and published articles on cultural competence and providing mental health services to Asian Americans. She was a committed community volunteer leading the annual Asian American Unity Dinner and the Organization of Chinese Americans New England Chapter, among many other community and health-related committees and board memberships.
May was devoted to her family in Hong Kong, and to her surviving husband, Antonio Vincente Lorenzo. May and Tony were married on February 9, 1958, at the University of Chicago where they met, and together they enjoyed 62 wonderful years. May is also survived by her younger brother William Kwan and his wife Irene of Hong Kong; two children: Mark Lorenzo of East Calais, VT, and Susana Lorenzo-Giguere and her husband Paul of Washington, DC. She also leaves three grandchildren, Isabella, Marco, and Matteo of Washington, DC; three nieces, Veronika Kwan Vandenberg and her husband Rob of Los Angeles, CA, Martina Kwan of Los Angeles, CA, and Adah Kwan and her husband Jonathan, of Hong Kong; three nephews, Michael Kwan and his wife Vanessa of Hong Kong, Peter Kwan and his wife Mandy, of Hong Kong, and Nicholas Kwan and his wife Liza, of Vancouver; great nieces and nephews, Chloe, Christian, Alex, Sydney, Nathan, Jordon, Zoe, Coco, Ryan, Kaiden, Josh and Gabriel; and cousins in Australia, California, and New York. She also leaves three nephews on the Lorenzo side of the family, John Lorenzo and his wife Mary Ellen of New Jersey, David Lorenzo and his wife Rita of New York, and Daniel Lorenzo and his wife Celeste of Florida, and all of their children. In 2006, May retired from work to fight, and to survive and thrive after her first bout of metastatic breast cancer. In retirement, May enjoyed ballroom dancing with Tony, cruising around the world to visit with her overseas family, sharing meals with her family and friends in the United States, and doting on her grandchildren in Washington, DC. Her strength, spirit, intelligence, and grace will be sorely missed by all.
Due to Covid-19, a socially distanced, very small Memorial Service will be held at the Waterman-Langone, 580 Commercial St., Boston on Saturday, July 25, 2020 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. On-line Zoom links will be available for wider attendance remotely. To request a Zoom link for the Memorial Service, please email: [email protected] In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dr. May Kwan Lorenzo’s memory to the non-profit organization, “Asian Women’s Health,” https://www.asianwomenforhealth.org/donate.html.
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