Dr. N.T. Van passed away on July after a short illness. Dr. Van was born near Hanoi on February to Can Hoai Nguyen and Nho Thi Le. He was educated in French language schools in what was then French-occupied North Vietnam. After pharmacy school, he eventually left Vietnam and went to England for graduate studies, graduating with a Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of London in 1968. In 1969, he married Ngoc Quyen (Liza) Nguyen in New York City, where her father was living and working as a diplomat to the United Nations and the Ambassador & Permanent Observer of the then-Republic of South Vietnam.
Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Michigan State University, he settled in Houston, TX in 1971. Following a faculty appointment in the Department of Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine, he eventually came to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson in 1978, in the Section of Molecular Hematology and Therapy within the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, where he was an assistant professor of biochemistry. Dr. Van spent many years as the technical director of the National Cancer Institute-funded flow cytometry core facility that provided laboratory support services to many M.D. Anderson scientists.
Dr. Van retired in 2000 and spent his retirement years traveling the world with his family, spending time with family and friends, tending to his koi pond, and helping his rural birth village improve its road infrastructure and drinking water. He also helped develop a low-interest micro-lending system for its residents.
Dr. Van was a devoted husband, father, brother, and uncle to a large and loving extended family. He had a quick wit and outgoing personality, making new friends wherever he went. He was an avid reader of world history and enjoyed trying new cuisine from other cultures. He made regular trips back to his beloved birth country of Vietnam and marveled at how the country had progressed over his lifetime. He had a close affinity to the indigenous groups of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
He is survived by his wife Liza and son John, six brothers and sisters, and many nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces.
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