Dr. Wu-Yang "Tom" Tseng

Dr. Wu-Yang “Tom” Tseng, son of the late Chien-Ping Tseng and Chao-Chi Lu Tseng, died peacefully at home on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. He was born on April 11, 1940, in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Tom attended National Hsinchu Senior High School and studied at the prestigious National Taiwan University in Taipei City, Taiwan, where he received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. With the goal of providing for his family as the eldest son, he moved to the United States with borrowed money in 1964 and attained his master’s degree in aerospace engineering at Virginia Polytechnical Institute. Later, he earned his doctorate on scholarship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of structures where he was joined by his fiancé Yun-Hsiang to marry and start his own family in 1966.

Tom worked for several engineering companies in his career, including the Westinghouse Electric Company from 1972 to 1979 in Philadelphia while living in Delaware. In 1979, Tom moved his family to West Chester, Ohio where he worked as an engineer at General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) until his retirement in 2001.  Most of his time at GEAE was as a manager in UDF Blade and Component Development. At General Electric, he received 15 patents, published 10 papers for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Journal of Applied Mechanics, was a finalist of GEAE Perry T Egbert Memorial Award, received GEAE Pioneer and Extraordinary Service Award, and received NASA Certificate of Recognition for the creative development of counter rotating aircraft propulsor blade.

He was passionate about Taiwan politics and highly active throughout his life, having been among the earliest members of the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) in the 1970s and was elected as President of the Taiwanese Association of Cincinnati multiple times.

An avid runner and lifelong tennis player, Tom was the first person from Taiwan to run Boston marathon. On April 20, 1970, he finished the course in 3:01:22, placing 228th out of about 1,100 runners.  In retirement, Tom ran and played tennis with his wife at Mercy HealthPlex in Fairfield daily for fifteen years, where he was beloved by all.

In addition to his parents, Tom was preceded in death by his younger brother, Wu-Pao. He is survived by his wife, Yun-Hsiang; daughter Connie Hannig and her husband Mike of Fort Collins, CO; daughter Cathy Tseng Kelly of Cary, NC; son Robbie Tseng of New York, NY; grandchildren: Ryan and Caitlin Kelly of Cary, NC and his sisters Hui-Ying Tseng Wu, Hui-Chin Tseng, Hui-Kuang Tseng and brother Wu-Ning Tseng.

Family and friends will be received from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, at the South Lobby of the Savannah Center, 5533 Chappell Crossing Blvd., West Chester, OH 45069 where memorial services will be held at 1:00 p.m. with hors d'oeuvres to follow.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Cincinnati Tennis Foundation at cincinnatitennisfoundation.org or WUFI (donation information available upon request).