Date of Birth:
Monday, October 5, 1931
Date of Death:
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Age:
85 years old

Aloysius Chu

Aloysius Chu (朱益潮), 85 years old, died at home in Rochester, Minnesota on April 29, 2017 from kidney disease. He was born in a rural area near Shanghai on October 5, 1931 in the Jiangsu province of China to father Xuecheng Zhu (朱學成) and mother Suzhen Ji (季素貞).

Surprisingly, Al’s mother was a Catholic. He joined the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, while a young man in China. Around the time of the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949, Al and his Jesuit brothers escaped to the Philippines. There he studied at the French Jesuit school Xavier in Manila until 1957. Al went on to teach for three years at Xavier, which he greatly enjoyed, and he earned a science degree from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

In 1965, he immigrated to the United States with graduate student visas to attend the University of Detroit and the University of Minnesota, where he studied physics and mathematics. He married Chu-Pin Chang (張菊品) on Flag Day, June 14, 1969 in Albany, New York and they had one son, Peter (朱培德), born 1971 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Al enjoyed working as a Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and Research Specialist at the University of Minnesota. At the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he worked for many years on 3D reconstructive imaging research at the Medical Sciences Building and later, at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Al first reunited with his family in China in 1981 and greatly enjoyed that and subsequent reunions. In retirement, he enjoyed fishing, reading, Western and Chinese style painting, swimming at the YMCA, Chinese calligraphy, and travel. Al was preceded in death by his parents and one brother. He is survived by his wife, Chu-Pin of Rochester; son, Peter of San Francisco; two brothers and one sister in China.

A visitation will be held on Friday, May 5, 2017 from 2:00PM-5:00PM in the River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home.