Hua-Tie Thomas Kau

Hua-tie “Tom” Kau: free spirit, scholar, and captain of the Kau family was born on September 27, 1945 and passed away on April 9, 2013. Tom lived life as he played tennis; he rallied every moment, rallied against every wall in his path, and taught his son and daughter to keep their eye on the ball and swing for the moon.

Tom graduated as a chemical engineer from National Taiwan University and University of Connecticut, completed his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, worked for more than twenty years at General Motors as a polymers-research engineer, and became an adjunct professor at the West Virginia University, after which his education truly began. After over a decade of taking his children to music lessons, he taught himself to play piano at the young age of sixty, read novels stored on his sturdy steel shelves (which he preferred to wood), stuffed his cabinets with telescopes, floppy disks with his own C programs, and his prized HP calculator; and left clouds of fireflies and smiles in his wake while motorbiking through Ann Arbor with his son.

When on land, Tom loved to hike while wearing big boots, which would be difficult for his son and daughter to fill, but for the fact that he took them from his son when he was not looking. While canoeing at sea with his family, Tom pulled more than his share and steered at the stern, gently adjusting each stroke so the family would effortlessly glide forward.

Having lost his own father, Der Fang Kau, in his childhood, Tom was double the father to his children, Joyce and Greg Kau; a devoted husband to his wife, Tsui-Ying Kau; a loving son to his mother, Meng Chen Kau; a big brother to his sisters, Shiow-Chih, Shiow-Bih, and Li-Chen; and guardian of his five nieces and nephews.

His family will hold a service at the Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, on Saturday, April 13, 2013, at 4:00 p.m. In lieu of donations, his family asks that any contributions be made instead to the Foundation for Thymic Cancer Research, 6 Cold Spring Court, Mount Kisco, NY 10549.