In Memory of Shipeng Li

San Francisco, California

Dear Tang Yi,

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to share our thoughts on and memory of Shipeng.  I am copying some of our MIT friends (please feel free to pass along to others) in an attempt to do a “virtual memorial service” to remember our dear friend, and to many of us, an elder and more mature brother, always full of energy and character.

The picture you sent captured him so well, always daring to challenge, with his trademark smiles.  You can see the same smiles he had years ago in attached picture when we went to New Hampshire to ski.

He and I used to rent rooms in the same house on the Columbia street in Cambridge, MA. I could still see, as if it were yesterday, that Shipeng would get off from his bike (or walked out of his yellow Mazda) and rush into the kitchen to say, what’s for dinner –  “one tree with a wall again”? – one of our favorite meals (or maybe one of the very few we knew how to cook): broccoli (“tree”) with a large piece of grilled beef (“wall”).  From time to time we would invite our friends over: in another attached picture you can see Xie Guozhong standing next to Chen Tong (with his wife sitting), Wang Xianliang, and He Hua and his wife – more often than not, he would prefer to stay in the background, not the center of the attention.

That all got changed one day (September 7, 1986), when some of us “tricked” him into a surprise birthday party for him, his big “30” – he was first one among many of us to reach this significant milestone.  We told him that Chen Tong’s place needed a vacuum cleaner – being as helpful as he always was, he brought one over, only to find it was actually a surprise party for him.  From the pictures you could see he tried to walk out, then walk away, but eventually “surrendered” to cut the cake as all of us doing our own commentary or simply watching on.  It was such a blast for everyone!

Shipeng was not all smiles though – looked at his stern face in front of the Capitol Hill when two poor students toured DC for the first time: not sure whether he was not too happy about Tip O’Neill or Ronald Reagan at the time :).

We are all still shocked and saddened by his sudden departure, but as you said, I am sure he would like to have us remember the good times, his smiles, his energy, his kindness to us all, and above all, celebrate his life as a great husband, father, and friend who had created a lot of great memories for us all.

Jirong