I would like to share my memories about Prof. Chen. As a student, I took Prof. Chen's classes during the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007.

The first time I saw Prof. Chen I was a silly first-year engineering graduate student hoping to switch to physics program at Auburn. I remember that day I was wandering in the empty hallway of physics building. I tried to knock some office doors but nobody answered. It might have been some holiday that day. Then Prof. Chen appeared. He asked me what I wanted and lead me to his office. "Cases that engineering students succeeded in physics were very rare.", he warned me. Nevertheless he offered me a seat in his quantum mechanics class. This became my first education in physics. I worked hard to understand his lectures but it was not easy at all because of my poor background in physics. Afraid of showing my ignorance and being kicked out of the class, I would not ask Prof. Chen any of the questions that confused me (there were too many and they were too basic/stupid). Prof. Chen was so sensitive that he indeed noticed my issue. He encouraged me to ask questions and without letting me know, asked a chinese girl in the class to help me (He must have also noticed my poor English skills). How considerate! Later on, I started to ask questions after class. He would carefully explain everything in detail and would not let me leave his office until he believed I really understood what he said. He was knowledgeable and rigorous. With Prof. Chen's recommendation I was able to finally enter the physics program.

I remember that at that time we had to spend a huge amount of time working out Prof. Chen's problem sets, which we would sometimes complain. Despite this, we all felt we could learn a lot from his class and his homework was always our first preference to discuss and attack. It was only after I left Auburn that I realized solving problems is the only way to truly learn physics. Prof. Chen was an experienced physicist. He was really training his students and preparing them the skills to survive in physics. He was like a father. I am sure we were not the only group of students who benefited from Prof. Chen's teaching and who felt truly thankful. I clearly remember how proud Prof. Chen was when he showed to the class his former undergraduate student's greetings and excellent simulation work from Wisconsin.

I left Auburn in 2008. Prof. Chen and I had some phone calls thereafter. He asked me about my current research project and said we should discuss more new physics next time we meet. He had just retired then but still maintained great enthusiasm in physics. In January of 2011, I met Prof. Chen at Auburn. He gave me advice on doing research. He knew my weakness and encouraged me to communicate more with people around. He was always a good adviser. I wish one day I could be among those students he is proud of. It is a pity that I know very little about Prof. Chen away from physics. The only piece of memory was on the first mid-autumn day after I arrived in the US. After class, he asked me if I had had any mooncake. I said I had not, and I thought, "he must be a traditional person."

Rest in peace, Prof. Chen, my first adviser in physics.

His student,
Guang Yang

An-Ban was my classmate at the Taiwan Provincial Chia-Yi Middle School (1955-1961). We used to play games together at the 10-minutes class breaks, even though we were not in the same class (his class room was next to mine, and there were 5 classes in our 1955 Class). I still remember both of us took the college entrance exam in the same classroom at Mechanical Engineering Dept. campus of Cheng Kung University (CKU) in Tainan, July 1961. We reviewed our test scores of mathematics together and concluded that both of us can only get 20s out of 100 and thus will not be admitted to colleges. It turned out that nobody got the passing score of 60 (58 was the highest score obtained by all candidates) and An-Ban was admitted to Taiwan Normal University; me to CKU.

After serving the ROTC in Taiwan, An-Ban went to the US and entered Williams and Mary College for graduate studies in 1967. As a graduate student at Duke in North Carolina, I drove to Williamsburg, VA in 1969 to pay a visit to An-Ban, and it was the first time I met Mayurase (Yu-Fong), the newly-wed bride. With their warm hospitality, I enjoyed sightseeing in the old town and the Virginia Beach. Later, our two families exchanged many visits in Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH in 1970s when I was with Westinghouse and An-Ban at Case-Western University. We always kept in close contact since then, including his sabbatical at Stanford Univ. and his final settlement at Auburn University. I recall in 2002 An-Ban took a business trip to Washington, DC and visited my home. We had a long chat in my backyard deck after dinner. He told me he was lucky to escape a hit by a collapsing deck in Auburn (he was almost killed by that deck). And he was still mourned by the passing of his son, Philip due to Leukemia. As to his wife, Mayurase, he always seeks her advice in advance on any family affairs even as trivial as grocery shopping items. Those demonstrated that, besides his achievements in academics, he was a family man- loving his family dearly and a role model as father and husband!! (My wife often complains my role as husband and suggests I should follow An-Ban as a role model for husband)

We were distressed to learn the passing of An-Ban, and write here to express our deepest sorrow. The world has lost one of the most magnificent men, and we have lost a great friend. We know his legacy and his love will continue, and all the precious memories will be cherished in our hearts that will last forever. He will long be remembered by all his schoolmates at the Taiwan Chia-Yi Middle School. We would like to extend our deepest regret and hearty condolences to his beloved family.


                                     Chuang, Tze-jer (莊子哲) from Gaithersburg, Maryland 

(The following was presented by William Chen, An-Ban's son)

I would like to acknowledge some of my cousins who are here.  All of them have been a big part of my parents’ lives.  I would like to start with David, my uncle’s son. He has known my Dad pretty much his entire life.  He is responsible for the memorial site, an-ban-chen.forevermissed.com.   Please keep submitting stories and tributes to the site.  The tributes we've had here will also be posted on the site.  David also spent the last few nights helping us with my father’s computers because we didn’t know the passwords.  There were a treasure trove of photos that I am sure my mom would not have wanted lost. He also able to set up my Mom with email and her iPhone and such but also patiently teaching her how to use it.   So my mom now has email, please send her emails.  He will also recite Fear no More the Heat of the Sun by William Shakespeare at the burial at Memorial Park Cemetery in Auburn, which will happen immediately afterwards, and everyone is invited.

My father will be buried next to my brother Philip, who had cancer and passed away in 1983 at the age eight.  Philip at that young age always knew what to say to make my parents smile, and he could light up a room, in that way he was way different than I was.   Though I have been their only son for most of my life, they took in many of their nieces and nephews into our home and helped them.  I remember my cousin Viyada, who my Dad practiced English with until she passed the TOEFL exam.   She lived with us for several years, and she also took care of me when my mother and father had to be at the hospital with Philip. She received her Master Degree in Education at Auburn.    My father also introduced her to one of his graduate students,  Sermsuk, who received his Master in Physics from Auburn and they have been happily married for 30 years in Montgomery.
   
My cousin Karen came over from Thailand and attended Auburn High School for two years living under their roof while I was in college, I remember Dad helping her with math and physics both in high school and college.. and Mom being surprised at the books I read in high school English,  because my mom read the books with her to help her because it was her first year in the United States and the high school teachers wanted her to analyze Shakespeare.   But she also said there was a lot of pressure to do well in math and science competitions after the teachers found out who her Aunt and Uncle were.  She graduated from Auburn with a degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters in Computer Science, and is now a successful senior engineer at AT&T in Seattle.  She is also staying with my mom till Sunday… so very kind and generous.
   
My cousin Jo also came to study Electrical Engineering at Auburn and received his PhD within three years with a 4.0 GPA.  Is that really right? Wow!  He’s worked in the telecom industry for ten years and is starting a new job in Maryland, also with AT&T. Now, I don’t really know what he does because it’s with the defense department and it's classified.   But between jobs, when my father moved to Philly to live with me to seek medical treatment at University of Pennsylvania; he also moved in with us to help out Mom for a couple of months.  He helped her shop and prepare meals for his special diet.  My father, at some point, was too weak to climb the stairs in my house, so he would carry his meals upstairs and also run errands for him.  He really helped us out.  His generosity is really unbounded.

All of you are examples of the American dream, but you are also a part of my father's legacy, as much as I am, so please cherish that.   My father was a real patriarch; anyone who really needed help or was in trouble knew he was the one to turn to, both his students all of my relatives even the Chinese student community here.   I know when one of you had problems with immigration, I remember he went over your documents and practiced the interview over and over again, pretending to be the agent.   But the lesson I learned, when he was speaking to you, was what he said about not taking shortcuts, just being honest, tell them what happened, but also explain why they should listen to you.  It was the same thing with his graduate students or when I had a presentation at school or at one of his conferences, he would patiently sit there while we did it over and over and over again until he was satisfied.
   
It was not that easy being his son.   He was the man that helped everyone and I tried to solve my own problems, and was slow to take advice from Mom and Dad, still am, by the way.   I would think didn’t need to practice, I knew what I was doing.   When I read one of his papers, I always tried to find a sharper or slicker solution.  One time in high school, I mentioned to him (I am sure quite arrogantly) that I found an exact solution to the equation he was trying to solve.   I was doing math contests and what he was writing looked very similar to a solution method I remembered.   It’s a testament to him that he asked this sixteen year old kid (who happened to be his son) show me, I want to learn.   However, immediately the day after, he had generalized my solution to the matrix case, and also explained to me the physical intuition of the solution.  Which of course I didn't understand at all.  But he was smart that way.  That was the paper that Dr. Sher mentioned.
     
I did learn a lot the couple of summers I worked with him.  From him I actually learned how to look at your data honestly, and think about what is really going on.   Do you really have a model or is your model just fitting your data.  Also what studies may shed more light on the topic you are thinking about.   And he would constantly ask probing questions and challenge your ideas - sometimes embarrassing questions.   This has served me well in my work - which is making models for finance and for poker.   I don’t know how many people realized after he was diagnosed with cancer, he researched the possible treatments and had a full schedule of correspondings with doctors and patients.   He read the papers in the field with relish, this is a new field to him, often telling doctors about a promising result or looking at the statistical significance of the published results.   I really felt that applying his research talents to a new field brought him a certain amount of satisfaction and hope in his condition. And, as my mom told me helped many people.. many patients.
 
Of course at the end I always turned to him when I did really need help or advice.   He helped me even to the end.  I remember a recent family trip to Panama City, Florida—vacations where my Mom really loves by the way --where I was in front of the computer instead of the beach.   I had to write a letter of recommendation for a colleague and friend, for graduate school in mathematics.   He read what I had, then told me basically what the graduate committee would be looking for -- since he had been on graduate committees, admission committees for decades -- but also said tell the honest story--they respect you--tell them why they should accept him.   He is now about to receive his PhD from Yale.  My father told me before he died, he did give me one last bit of wisdom which I want to share with you, “You are so smart, too smart for your own good.  But you are not wise yet.”  With experience comes wisdom, so I will strive, I will try, even if it takes me a the rest of my life.    

The other thing he said was “take care of your mother,” which I will also tell those of you who are close to her to do.  She has chosen to remain in Auburn.  As part of the community here and the university for 38 years she just feels comfortable here.  Part of the highlight of their stay with me in the fall of 2010, when my mother did have to move to Philadelphia, was watching the Auburn football games together with my Dad, where we were winning each week.  As you guy remember each game was really exciting and we kept winning each week and then we won the BCS game.  A big War Eagle to everyone!…  But 2012 has really been a pretty bad season huh… for everyone. Mom really isn't into football but she knows every top PGA player, and I am sure she is going to average at least 9 holes everyday.  So I hope you will all help me.  And mom, I am going to visit and call you much more often.

We are sad today because of his passing, but tomorrow we should rejoice because of the life he lived. The controversial confederate general Albert Pike said, "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

I will now ask the family members to stand including his academic family because you are part of the family too, and I will ask my mother to join me at the casket.   We are going to have a moment of silence, at the end I will go back to the podium and say "Thank You"  At that point, those that are of the Christian faith may say Amen those who are of the Buddhist faith may  say Ameida-Hut or a simple “good-bye” or remain silent.  We are going to have a minute of silence now.

Thank you. 

(The following was presented by An-Nan, An-Ban's brother, at the memorial service)

Friends, family, and loved ones ; thank you for being here with us today.

It is an honor and privilege for me to pay tribute to a person who is very special to me; my brother Dr. An-Ban Chen.

My name is An-Nan Chen, An-Ban's younger brother. He was a remarkable person in so many ways. He lived his life to the fullest everyday and touched so many people during his time here with us, as evidenced by so many of you here today.

As I was trying to look for the right words to express my thoughts about my brother, I started to remember his early life in Taiwan before he came to the United States.  I would like to share those times with you to give you a better idea of where my brother came from, and how he came to be the man we all loved so much.

An-Ban was born in 1942 in central Taiwan during the Second World War.  At the time, Taiwan was a colony of Japan and my father was called to serve in the Japanese army. After I was born, my mother was diagnosed with a severe mental condition. Because of my parents' unfortunate situation, we were very poor.  My brother, who was six at the time, and my nine-year older sister took on the tremendous responsibility of taking care of me during my childhood.

When I was just an infant, my brother would take me to his elementary school with him during the day, where I would wait for him to get out of class.  After school, I would follow him back home and he would cook for me, help bathe me and put me to bed. My sister had to work at a local shop to earn money to help support the family. We were three kids surviving on our own. Despite being very poor and carrying such a heavy burden, my brother still found the time to teach me a lot of fun things such as fishing, playing Chinese chess, and ping-pong. He also taught me how to read and write. In those challenging years, we managed to have a lot of fun.  A few years later, my father came back from Hainan Island. Our financial situation improved a little bit, but we still struggled daily to make ends meet.

Even at a young age, my brother was very talented in many areas. He was one of the top students in class, and he excelled in music, painting and writing. When he was in high school, he supported our family by writing short stories in the local newspaper, which also made him famous within our community of Chaiyi.

After high school, he took the college placement exam.  Although his score allowed him to attend the top university in Taiwan, my brother chose to go to a teacher university on full scholarship to help alleviate the financial burden on the family.  My brother's achievement inspired me to work hard at school in order to better our situation.  After completing university with high honors, An Ban was accepted for a physics teaching position at the high school I was attending.  After a year of teaching, he applied to College of William and Mary and was accepted on a full scholarship.  This is where my brother met his advisor and lifelong friend, Dr. Arden Sher.

William and Mary was also where he fell in love with his classmate and future wife Mayurase.  Soon after marrying, my nephew William was born.  In spite of starting a new family, my brother supported me financially throughout his graduate studies.  With my brother's aide, I was able to graduate from university in Taiwan and come to College of  to the US, where I would follow in his footsteps and attend William and Mary on scholarship with the special consideration by Dr. Sherr when he was the director of the Applied Science. Without his sacrifice and perseverance, I would not be where I am today.  For this, I truly owe him a great deal.

When I think back on my brother's life, first and foremost I remember my brother as a family man. He loved his family profoundly. He was a devoted husband / son / father / uncle / brother and friend.
　
As many of you know, my brother was a very kind, sincere, intelligent and generous person. He was always willing to help others in need. He helped the students at Auburn University set up the badminton club and offered his time as an administrator so that the students could have a place to exercise and have fun. Often times, he would welcome new students from other countries into his home for dinner.  He even shared the harvest in his garden with squirrels, saying, "They were here before us."

An-Ban took the many roles in his life to heart and strove to honor, support, guide and most importantly, protect his family. He was happiest when he was surrounded by his family - even during inevitably tough times. His devotion to his family was the foundation of his actions.

I was so grateful to be able to spend some time with him during his final moments at the hospital. During this time, he was in good spirits and telling everyone not to worry about him.  He recollected how fortunate he was to have lived a such fulfilling life without regret or fear.  Even in such dire conditions he was so brave and selfless.  The next morning, his breath become slower and he fell asleep peacefully without pain or struggle. I knew that this would be one of the most profound moments that I would spend with my brother.

My brother An-Ban, it is very hard to say goodbye, but I know one day we will see each other again. In the meantime, we will remember you through the many lives you touched so positively. You left an amazing legacy behind, William - a brilliant son - and through him this world is a better place and for that you can be very proud.

An-Ban; my brother; we will miss you, but we will always remember you with respect, admiration and love.

Thank you.

(The following was delivered at An-Ban's memorial service by Dr. Sher)

An-Ban was a genius! One of the most fortunate events of my life was the day An-Ban selected me as his thesis advisor. We have had a close relationship ever since.

He entered William and Mary in 1967 shortly after I joined the faculty. Mayurase entered the Physics graduate program the following year. One of the happiest yet uncomfortable days of their lives was the day they were married. They had been befriended by a Baptist Minister who offered to marry them in his church. The Bishop learned of the plan the day before the wedding and forbid the Minister to conduct the marriage because neither of the couple were Baptists. The faculty and staff at William and Mary launched into action and arranged to have the marriage at the historic Wren Chapel on campus. The local organist and Justice of the Peace volunteered their services and the wedding went off smoothly without a further glitch.

The next happy event in their life was the birth of their son William. He was named after King William, the one who founded William and Mary.

The next important event in the Chen family sequence occurred when An-Ban recommended that I accept his brother, An-Nan into the fledgling Computer Science Program at William and Mary. That also proved to be an excellent recommendation.

An-Bans thesis was completed in 1971 and published in 1972. It was a generalization of the work by Dr. Phil Anderson that won him the Nobel Prize. The last time I checked the Science Citation Index, about 20 years ago, that paper had already had over 600 citations. By now I expect the number has grown into the thousands.

After his PhD An-Ban accepted a Post Doctoral position at Case Western Reserve with Professor Ben Segal. There he learned band structure fitting procedures that served him well for the rest of his career. He was there for at least two years.

Then he joined the Physics faculty at Auburn. A few years later I had left William and Mary and was at SRI International. Our collaborations continued. An-Ban took his sabbatical year from Auburn at Stanford with Professor Spicer, but in fact, while he had an office at Stanford, he worked mostly with our group at SRI. When I had to travel on several occasions, An-Ban taught my course at Stanford to the delight of the students.

Over the years we co-authored 86 papers in refereed journals. His contributions were always important and often dominate. These 86 papers were only a fraction of his output during his very successful career.

While he was still in High School, William co-authored one of those papers, and later when he was at Berkley, he worked for me at SRI one summer as a research associate, and published another paper with one of my colleagues. An-Ban was always proud of Williams many accomplishments, but that is a long story for another time.

Many of the results of our prior work were collected in a book An-Ban and I published in 1995 entitled Semiconductor Alloys. The book is scheduled to be republished soon by Springer as an e-book.

I visited the Chens at Auburn many times and Lois joined me on one occasion. The hospitality shown by An-Ban and Mayurase was always impressive, particularly the food prepared by Mayurase with the fresh vegetables from their garden.

In 2007, An-Ban and I compared notes to decide where neither of us had been before so our families could take a vacation together. We settled on Nova Scotia and enjoyed spending a week in July together.

Mayurase and William, I know you must be devastated by the loss of An-Ban but you can take solace in the fact that in the end he did not suffer great pain; knowing that he was loved by his family and friends; was revered by many colleagues; and accomplished important enduring work during his life that has found its way into books, even texts.

An-Ban: good by old friend!

Arden and Lois Sher

Dr. Chen touched many people's hearts. Luckily, we were among those fortunate ones. In fact, my husband Chin Hsian Kuo was not his direct students but we as well as the others had been invited to his home and experienced the warm hospitality, delicious food and the cheers and joys of holidays when our families in Taiwan were so far away from us. Dr. Chen and Mayurase's thoughtfulness, generosity and dedication to students and their young families was remarkable and definitely left foot prints in the hearts of those who he has touched.

The memories were warm-feeling and the love was precious. It was great to have encountered Dr. Chen and his family in our lives in Auburn. We know he will keep on living in our hearts!

With all of our sympathy and love,
Chin Hsian Kuo (郭欽盛), Lily Kuo + Iris and Daniel

We knew Professor Chen from the badminton club at Auburn University when we moved to Auburn in 1987 – he was the club advisor. He was a very good athlete and always very competitive when it came to badminton! The club was struggling to find a time and place to play, but Dr. Chen solved these problems for us. With his advice and assistance, the club hosted a badminton tournament in 1988, which became the biggest and best badminton competition in Auburn history ever.  We also went to watch badminton together at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.

Although we were just students at Auburn at that time, Dr. Chen treated us as a part of his family. He invited us to his house for dinner on many occasions. His whole family was so warm-hearted, and the dinner was always delicious because we had the best chef in the world, Mayurase! William was in high school at that time and he always played chess with our daughters, Allison and Eva, who were only 4 and 2 at the time. William was so good but always let the girls win, and Dr. Chen would nod and approve of his son’s actions.

Dr. Chen provided us with the best memories of student life at Auburn, and we continued our friendship after Spencer’s graduation. We were so lucky to have opportunities to share some time with him when he visited William in Germantown, PA in recent years. Dr. Chen was so inspiring with his courage and intelligent approach to his health battle, as he still lived with enthusiasm and had a very productive life. Mayurase was a wonderful caretaker and companion; she stood beside him through the whole battle.

While Dr. Chen was a very intelligent person and a leader, he was most importantly also kind and generous. He always reached out and touched the hearts of other people’s lives.  And not just to humans – he loved his friends in nature as well. He shared the harvest in his garden with squirrels, deer, etc. as he said, “They were here before us.”

The world has lost one of the world’s most magnificent men, and we have lost a great friend. We know his legacy and his love will continue, and all the precious memories will be cherished in our hearts and last forever.  We all loved him very much.  

Lily and Spencer Lin + Allison & Eva

Dr. An-Ban Chen that I know

I got to know Dr. Chen through taking his Quantum Physics class in 1980 when I was a graduate student in Electrical Engineering of Auburn University.  He assigned homework to solve the natural frequency of a lattice with body centered cubic structure.   While struggling to solve the problem like a challenging puzzle, I went to his office numerous times seeking hints on how to navigate through the complicated derivation of equations.  Dr. Chen was extremely patient in giving me hints.  Finally, after 12 pages of equations and a whole week of time, I was able to complete the assignment.   When he worked out the solution on the board for the class, it took him only half the space of a board.   How brilliant was he! What impressed me more was not only how smart and how well he mastered the subject, but how much passion and patience he has shown as a professor to his student.  Even 30 years later today, I still share with friends the story which remains one of the best during my school years.  Dr. Chen helped me make it happen. 

We later built a close relationship as teacher-student and family friends.   Several Auburn alumni here in Silicon Valley looked forward to seeing him when he came to the area and we always had great time in the mini reunions or as guests at his home.  Dr. Chen is amiable and humble as a teacher and is caring as an elder/friend to Auburn alumni who are his junior.  He enjoyed sharing with us his insights whether it is life style or something of Taiwan that we share treasured memory with.   He also loved to share his son William’s achievement.  We also greatly enjoyed Mrs. Chen’s hospitality and talents of cooking, baking and gardening knowledge. We admire his brilliant achievement as a scholar in physics and envy his fortune of having a brilliant son and a wife who is extremely caring and talented.  

After Dr. Chen learned that he was severely ill, he asked us not to worry about his illness but asked us to pray for his recovery.  During the treatment, he gave his friends quarterly update on the treatment and progress.  He was very upbeat about his positive progress.  It seemed that miracle was happening to him for some time and we were very happy and encouraged by his progress.  Although he had to go for another round of treatment and eventually left us early, we are very honored and fortunate to have known him through these years, as a professor, as a dear friend and as a champion who would not yield to illness.

Dr. Chen, you have not been defeated.  You remained as a champion to us.   We will forever treasure the nice memories you have left for us.   

We also like to extend our deepest condolence to Mrs. Chen and William.

Stanley & Maureen Yeh

Dear William and Mrs Chen,

We are saddened by the news.  Chin-Yu is arranging a trip back to Auburn for Dr. Chen's service.

Dr. Chen touches our lives in a profound way that his teaching turned us, particularly Chin-Yu, from young physics students into well trained physicists.  Also learned from Dr. Chen, we enjoy our works as scientists / engineers.  We are greatly indebted to Dr. Chen. for how we became who we are today.

We will miss Dr. Chen dearly.

Regards,

Jih-Shiuan (Sam) Luo and Chin-Yu Yeh

Dear Mrs. Chen & Bill:
 
We're very sad to learn An-Ban passed away this morning. Please accept our sincere condolence.  I still remember An-Ban's laugh and comments in that seven days trip around Taiwan several years back.  We were so happy and chatted those old times and all personal life experience after graduated from college I felt knowing each other all over again and more closely.  Wish Mrs. Chen keeps all those whole life's happy moments in mind as a way to remember An-Ban.
 
Take Care!
 
Mary & Wallace 

Dear Bill:

This is Wen-Long Lin. I am your father's university classmate in Taiwan.
I was affected by a heart attack on 12/22. I was treated with 3 initracoronary stents. I stayed in the hospital for four nights  and returned home  on 12/26. I was shocked to learn that your father passed away on that morning! I would like to tell you that An-Ban is not only a talented researcher but also a very good Baritone player as a team member of the university wind band. He is also a person with an inquiry mind. Certainly we will miss such a unique classmate.I wish this will give you and your Mom some condolence.

Best regards to you and your Mom.

Wen-Long

Three men has made imprints in my life.  An-Ban Chen is one of them along with my own Dad.   What I learned from him how to approach, analyze, and attack the problems are practiced in my every day life of my professional work, beyond the physics realm.  That is how I made progress in my career.  For that, I am truely in his debt.

During the 9 years in Auburn as a foreign student, An-Ban had given me advices, warmth, and kindness like a part of his family.  My parents and I own him that gratitude.

His regular updates on his battle showed me that he was  sharp and conciously aware of his situation and made effort in control to the very end, like he had always been.  That gives me peace of mind.  I wish that you were, too.

I will surely miss him.

-- Piyawut (Joe) SRICHAIKUL

Dear Mayurase and William,

Please accept our sincere condolence for your loss of a loved family leader and a courageous wise person, who is also our good friend, colleague and teacher, Professor An Ban Chen!

When we first moved from Lubbock Texas to Auburn, Alabama in 1983, Mayurase and An Ban reached out and touched our heart by providing not only essential orientation for a brand new faculty member but warm welcome and all aspects of assistance for our family  to start happily our more than 24 years enjoyable living and experiences in Auburn.  Since then, An Ban had been more like a big brother to me.

I was inspired every time when I read or listened to An Ban's peaceful analysis of his status  and updates of his activities and felt his enthusiasm towards his old friends and colleagues whom he also  missed very much.  Mien-huei and I were lucky to have met and enjoyed a delicious lunch, prepared by Mayurase, with An Ban in your Auburn home when we returned to Auburn for a visit and eye-witnessed the great spirit of An Ban who courageously and scientifically fought a winning battle with those unfriendly cells in his body.  Mayurase is an intelligent care taker besides being a great scientist, for everything including cooking,  who was instrumental to the success of the battle.

I exchanged emails with An Ban right after this past Thanksgiving weekend when I visited Boston. At that time, An Ban was preparing to receive a treatment in the MGH.   An Ban was so persistent in his health battle and understood all options and chances.  

An Ban is a great person, who has lived as an outstanding teacher, scientist, friend, colleague for me and many people around and will be a role model for all of us forever.  I am sure that you are also proud of him!   I am also sure that An Ban wishes both of you to live a happy and prosperous life even without him physically on your side.

Sincerely,
Yonhua and Mienhuei Tzeng

Dear Mayurase and William,
 
We were so sorry to hear the shocking news!  We lost a good friend and mentor!  Hope you can take care yourselves and wish God helps you through this difficult time.
 
**************************************************************
 
Please accept our deepest condolence on the lost of Prof. Chen!
 
We arrived at Auburn in September 1984 and Bernard was teaching in the Industrial Engineering Department.  Very soon, Prof. Chen’s family (An-Ban, Mayurase, and William) became our best friends, and their home became our frequently visited place, especially on holidays.
 
Prof. Chen is a very sincere person! We know Prof. Chen is very serious and is very devoted in doing research.  His life is so disciplined, too.  Prof. Chen became the mentor of my early academic career and of our family life.  We discussed everything from research to daily life details.  Mayurase always serve delicious meals and deserts. And I had chance to learn math and computer from William, he even helped on the research I was doing at the time.  We have had indelible memories during the time (1984-1991) we were at Auburn!
 
Prof. Chen is very kind and caring person! Our daughter was born at Auburn and she has an older brother Andrew.  The Chen’s often invited us to their home with warm welcome.  The two naughty children sometimes became a disaster to them.  I remembered that one time Andrew broke a chess piece displayed in their living room. The ivory chess pieces were their beautiful decorations and lovely toy at the time.  And this happened after Andrew was warned that the displayed chess was something he could not touch in the room.  We, as parents, were so embarrassed at the time; however, Prof. Chen and Mayurase said immediately “that’s OK!”….  Even William (he was a teenager at the time) did not blame Andrew!  The chess piece was never replaced or recovered, and was just glued together for its life time!
 
After I learned Prof. Chen had a lung cancer, I send him a book by Cardinal Shan (in Taiwan), who has had the similar situation but had fighting the disease for 5 years.  Cardinal Shan had delivered more than 100 public speeches in 5 years! Hope this example could encourage Prof. Chen’s continuously fighting the disease; and indeed, he treated the situation as a challenging research topic, taking all the necessary measures… Unfortunately, God decided the time!  Cardinal Shan passed away 6 months ago, God also took Prof. Chen’s life with Him.  Both of them are now in God’s grace and be loved forever!
 
Bernard & Theresa Jiang + Andrew & Cecilia

An Ban Chen

I came to know An Ban soon after I joined SRI International- he was a visiting professor at Stanford but had an office at SRI as well. Little did I know at that time that he and I would go on to co-author 45 publications in the next 15 years. That is close to 45% of my total publications to date!

I was not his direct student. But for all practical purposes I was. He was aware of problems in solid state physics, and was full of ideas to approach them, but never had enough time to see them through. I fitted in to his life perfectly at that time—eager to learn, had enough time, highly encouraging supervisor (Arden Sher), stimulating environment and a bachelor! Arden and Lois would invite us to dinner at their house. Lois and Mayurase knew this crowd very well and left us alone. We talked only Physics. His brilliant son William who was in 9th (or 10th) grade at that time often joined us in our conversations and even suggested easier mathematical approach to solve some of those problems! (One of his suggestions resulted in a PRB.) In that year alone, we had 1 PRL, 1 APL, and 2 PRB publications to our credit! In addition to this, An Ban had a few publications with my colleagues that year! He is outstanding Physics enthusiast.

Our collaboration continued even after he left Stanford. I don’t remember a week when we did not talk over phone—sometime even twice a day! Arden would walk into my office. Realizing that I am on phone with An Ban, he would choose to return only after an hour! We could talk all details over phone as if the equations and codes are on an imaginary paper right in front of us. We often derived the equations independently, but chose the easier and more elegant of the approaches for coding. More often than not, our codes were based on his approaches! Our phone calls were followed up with a meeting at Physics conferences. Just after my marriage I took my wife (Meena) to a conference in Boston. An Ban, Meena and I went for a dinner. Faithful to our tradition, An Ban and I continued our physics discussion. She formed an opinion that one physicist is boring and two or more physicists together are intolerable. That is the last physics conference she ever attended in 26 years of our marriage!

After some 15 years of collaboration on band structures, transport, high speed and high frequency devices, and nonlinear absorption, I chose to move towards spintronics and photonics. He followed his interest in polymer electronics and nanoelectronics. We read each other papers. He was happy that I continued to use his Hamiltonian (developed in collaboration with Arden). We kept in touch and met at least once a year when he visited his son who was living in the Bay Area. I talked to him recently around Thanksgiving holidays. In spite of heavy odds, he was still his usual self.

He is one of the most positive and humble persons I have ever met. He was eager to share his knowledge, hardworking, very helpful, and rarely sought any recognition. He breathed physics and derived full enjoyment in identifying and solving problems. He was blessed with a wonderful companion—Mayurase—for his wife. She supported him in all possible ways so he could follow his interest in physics uninterrupted. William grew up faster and assisted him in his endeavors. I was lucky to have experienced their hospitality for a week or so after an accident. I never had much better non- Indian vegetarian food since then!

An Ban’s untimely demise is a major loss to physics, in general, and particularly to me. I am very happy and thankful to have known him and interacted with him extensively. His love for physics, treatment of colleagues as equal and with respect, and humility stand out prominently. I am one of the beneficiaries of those qualities.

My deepest condolences to Mayurase and William. I believe that An Ban’s body may be gone shortly, but he will be living through his high quality work in physics.

May his soul rest in peace.

Srini Krishnamurthy SRI International Menlo Park, CA 94025

December 27, 2012