Dear Litao and family, 
I did not have the privilege of getting to know Tianbao, but he clearly was a wonderful family man and colleague.  My heart goes out to you and all those who knew him well.  May his memory be a blessing.  
With sympathy,
Michael

Dear Litao and Family, 
my deepest condolences for your loss. Sending my sympathy to you and your family during this most difficult time. I hope you are feeling much support from all your friends at JNJ.
Andrea Nawrocki

I worked with Tianbao for a number of years at Janssen.  He was an accomplished medicinal chemist, a trusted advisor, and a true gentleman.  He will be missed.  My sincere condolences to Tianbao’s family.

Mark Macielag

Litao,

Thinking of you and your family in this difficult time. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

The Beluch Family

It has been a real pleasure to work with Tianbao. He made time to explain and teach junior scientists like me and seemed to always know what our next steps had to be. His talent and creativity in making new drug molecules will be sorely missed by all of us.

Tianbao was a talented medicinal chemist respected by his colleagues. He was also a very likable person. I first met him at 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals (3DP) when I joined 3DP what now seems like ages ago, in 1998. Our career paths ran in parallel (him being a real chemist and me being a chemist by training, but doing mostly specialized software design for discovery support), first at 3DP and then at J&J, until Tianbao’s untimely passing. It is sad to realize I will never again have a chance to chat with him in the hallway or cafeteria… My deepest condolences to Tianbao’s family.

Like others from J&J in Europe, I also first met and worked with Tianbao via the Onco med chem reviews in the early 2010's. It was clear from the beginning he was meticulous, with a very deep knowledge and attention to detail. He was motivated, positive and overall a great colleague. I can recall many interesting conversations from those early days as I first got know him, he was an open minded scientist and covered all the details of his work, but he also had conviction and a way of expressing how he thought things should be done which I really appreciated. Wishing all the best to friends and especially family at this difficult time.

Tianbao was the first chemist I had hired at 3DP.  I recall part of his interview on a class of pH-sensitive macrocylic compounds known as calixarenes for molecular recognition and as host-guest complexation as being highly innovative.  Over the course of nearly a decade at 3DP, I would characterize Tianbao’s contributions to the research programs at the company as highly impactful, making key contributions to the structure-based design and synthesis of potential drug candidates across the thrombin/Factor Xa and HDM2 programs. He was always on the prowl to seek better compounds, typically driven to solve problems on potency, selectivity, cellular activity, PK and other liabilities medicinal chemists face in programs.  
I maintained a personal connection to Tianbao over the years. When I traveled to the Philadelphia area, I would make it a point to try to get together with Tianbao.  While we “talked shop” much of the time, when it came to discussing family he was very proud of what the family – Litao, Michael, Melissa -- has accomplished; he was a family man, especially outside of work and during weekends.

Tianbao was not only a colleague and a mentor but also a great friend. I am very honored to have started a project from beginning to end with him and learned a lot from him along the way. Family was the most important aspect of Tianbao's life. I particularly remember the moment at the beginning of this year when he spoke about his children's education and careers; he was filled with pride and beaming with joy. I am grateful for the wisdom he shared on how to inspire and raise children. It is a great regret that we couldn't complete a few papers together, but the rest of the team and I will publish them in the future as a lasting memorial to Tianbao, who was not only an outstanding scientist but also an exceptional and supportive father.

I used to meet Tianbao ~2012-~2015/16 years as part of Oncology med chem project reviews mostly in Val de Reuil where the fun part was the nice dinner- French way: we always had a laughter together at the table when Tianbao would 'under pressure' accept 'just a little red wine' and his ears would turn red within minutes :). When I close my eyes now, I only see his smiling face and Tianbao meeting me in a corridor in SH with a long handshake and a pat on my shoulder. I had just started to interact again with him on STEC and will bitterly miss him! I want to extend my condolences to the family and wish them lot of strength.

Vineet.

Tianbao was the first chemist I had the privilege to work with when joining J&J in 2013. We co-led multiple programs and collaborations across Belgium and the East Coast. I learned so much from Tianbao about chemistry, project leadership and team work. I have many memories of meetings and dinners in Belgium, France and the US as well as work trips to NYC and Toronto throughout the years. When searching for a picture, I found 1000s of emails from him which is evidence of Tianbao's collaborative nature. He was always there for the team which made it easy to navigate the many challenges drug discovery brings together. I will always remember Tianbao as a fantastic chemist, but more importantly as an outstanding colleague and team player. As a result the only picture I could find was one the two of us put together to introduce and thank the first drug discovery team we led in 2013. With this team we were able to bring a drug candidate into the clinic and touch the life of several lymphoma patients. The publication of our results should come out this year and will be dedicated to Tianbao. In deepest sympathy, Uli

A talented medicinal chemist with an infectious laugh. My last memory of Tianbao was our lunch in 2023 when I retired from JNJ. We had a great time sharing recollections of past times at 3DP.  Your family is in my prayers.

OBITUARY

Dr. Tianbao Lu

1 October, 1961 – 14 March, 2025

Lamb Funeral Home Inc.

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services