Chi Wong

Dr. Chi Shing (C.S.) Wong of Tsawwassen, B.C. died peacefully surrounded by his family on Thursday June 6th, 2013 at Delta View Life Enrichment Centre at the age of 78. C.S. was born September 1st, 1934 in Hong Kong. He earned a Bachelor of Science, Honours in Chemistry from the University of Hong Kong and later attended the University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography where he completed his PhD in 1968 under the mentorship of Dr. Charles David Keeling as his first PhD student. He is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 53 years Emmy, two children Adriana (Patrick) and Calvin (Eva), and three grandchildren, Trevor, Adam and Simon. He is also affectionately remembered by his six younger sisters Sau-Han, Sau-Fong, Sau-Chun, Sau-Wan, Sau-Ling & Sau-May, and brother-in-law, Sung Shan and their families. C.S. worked for the federal governments Department of Fisheries and Oceans for over 40 years starting at the Biological Sciences Station in Nanaimo in 1968. Later C.S. moved to the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) in Victoria/Sidney where he was Chief of the Ocean Chemistry Division and Ocean Climate Division until his retirement in 2009 and continued on as Emeritus Professor until 2010. He was also adjunct professor at both the University of Victoria and UBC in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences. C.S. was one of the pioneer research scientists to understand the role of the worlds oceans in the atmospheric CO2 greenhouse gas balance. It would not have been lost on him, that June 6th, the day of his passing was the day that the Keeling Curve of atmospheric CO2 levels passed 400 ppm. He also studied trace heavy metal contamination in the Canadas freshwater and coastal seawater systems. He is an author of over 200 scientific publications and book chapters. He was awarded a number of distinguished scientific awards including the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, and was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He loved a life as an ocean scientist and welcomed opportunities to travel the world for conferences and fieldwork. He was involved in landmark scientific cruises to collect data on the state of worlds oceans including trips to the Arctic and the Galapagos Islands. He actively collaborated with colleagues all over the world including the United States, Germany, Australia, Russia, Japan, and China and hosted and helped train students and postdoctoral fellows. C.S. shared his love of art when he first met Emmy, while taking a watercolour painting class. He was also passionate about opera music, reading and collecting books, and the friendly competition in badminton. A Memorial Service for C.S. will be held at the University of Victoria Interfaith Chapel on Thursday, August 29, 2013 at 1:00 pm (located at 3800 Finnerty Road, next to Parking Lot #6 on the outer Ring Road at UVic). This will be followed by a casual reception at the University Club of Victoria (previously called the Faculty Club, a short walk from the Chapel or use Parking Lot #9 at UVic). A memorial award endowment has been set up at the University of Victoria for deserving undergraduate students in the field of Earth and Ocean Sciences. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Dr. C.S. Wong Memorial Award in Earth and Ocean Sciences. The website is https://extrweb.uvic.ca/pages/annual-giving/-in-memory-dr-cs-wong You may also contact Jody Kitts at the UVic Development Office for the Faculty of Science at 250-853-3245 or by e-mail at kittsj@uvic.ca C.S. was a kind, gentle, scholarly man who will be greatly missed by his family and all those who were given the chance to know him. The family would like to extend a warm thank you to Dr. Ron Davidson and the staff at Delta View for their compassion and outstanding care for C.S. over the last year.