Obituary of Jane Hsu

Jane Ching-Yeng Huang Hsu, formerly of Forest Hills NY, passed peacefully out of this life on December 23, 2023, at the age of 85, due to complications of congestive heart failure and dementia. She was at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, NY, surrounded by her loving family.

A giving, generous spirit, she was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother; a respected teacher and research associate; an accomplished entrepreneur and businessperson; and a fierce patriot and staunch defender of the country of her birth, Taiwan, and of her adopted homeland, the United States.

The last of 12 children born to Shin Kwei Huang and Suan Chen of Chong Lun Tou Chen in Yi-lan County on April 24, 1938, Jane was a proud eighth-generation Taiwanese raised in the Huang family compound with extended family. Jane grew up steeped in that brave nation’s traditions and history, learning about the blood and sweat that her ancestors poured into its land. In the 1700’s, her male forebears emigrated there from Zhang Zhou, Fukien, China and intermarried with native Taiwanese women. “We are not the offspring of the Southern Barbarian, the offspring of the worms inside the doors, nor the offspring of the Yellow Emperor,” she declared. “We are a mixture of Han Chinese and Austronesian-speaking peoples.”

Her ancestors worked the land by hand, cutting, clearing, and cultivating the grasslands of Taiwan, and dying young. She decried the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party’s harsh “land to the tiller” policies in the 1950s that, while credited with vaulting Taiwan to economic strength through agriculture, also served as a land grab from native Taiwanese forced a choice to work the land or pursue an education. “No one could till the rice or vegetable fields in the countryside and go to school in the city simultaneously – whoever wanted to till the farmlands could not go to colleges even if they were qualified and willing,” she said. She castigated KMT leaders for their policy of reunification with mainland China. Jane was a life-long supporter of Taiwan self-determination for independence and democracy.

She was ever grateful to her selfless mother, who gave her valuable government grain coupons that helped pay for her education at the Taipei First Girls High School and then at her college, Shi Da. That education was a springboard to graduate work at UCLA, where she earned her M.A. in psychology and met her husband, Shin-yi. They moved to Athens, GA, then eventually to Binghamton, NY where she became a research associate and adjunct lecturer at SUNY Binghamton. She later became CEO of their small software-development company, Susquehanna Resources and Environment, with her husband as co-founder.

Throughout her life, she was passionate about supporting both Taiwan and the U.S. to keep them strong, independent, and free. Every day she worked to contribute to the peace, security, prosperity, and human rights in both countries, and dreamed of seeing the U.S. help its friend Taiwan fight the specter of dictatorship in the Pacific Rim.

A curious, adventurous soul, she prided herself on her physical strength – she worked out for at least 40 minutes a day on her recumbent bike – as well as her diligence, perseverance, optimism, trustworthiness, and self-confidence. With her husband, Jane was a founding member of the non-profit Global Taiwan Institute, and also established student scholarships at Binghamton University and Syracuse University.

She is survived by her loving family: Dr. Shin-yi Hsu, her husband of 56 years; her children, Dr. Sigmund (Dr. Felicia Feng) Hsu and Dr. Natalie (Dr. Teddy Pan) Hsu; and her three grandchildren, Carleton Sloane Hsu, Sydney Wen-Ying Hsu Pan, and Michael Li-san Pan.

Jane Ching-Yeng’s family wish to thank her life-long friends who attended the Flushing, NY birthday party which served as her celebration of life in late October.

Arrangements by the Dufresne Funeral Home, Inc., Cohoes, NY.