Back in January of 1989 while Dr. Ray Wu assumed the Directorship of IMB, I’ve been working at IMB for 6 months. The first day I saw him, I told myself: This is The Gentleman. Yes. He never raised his voice no matter how trivial the administration affairs were. He was just the so called 謙謙君子。
However, his gentleness didn’t keep him aloof from us. He thought it a good idea to have lunch with students/postdocs, to get to know them, to know what they expect of the lab leader, and to encourage them to interact with seniors. Since his family did not come to Taiwan with him, he had to take care of his meals himself. He would bring sandwiches for his lunch. There are 5 floors in IMB building. Monday he would go to 1F, Tuesday to 2F, Wednesday 3F, etc. There was no lab but the administration offices on 1F, he then encouraged the administrative staff to have lunch with him. Most of us were kind of “freaked out”, and the lunches on Monday didn’t hold even once. The lunch meeting with other floors’ occupants did run for a while. I didn’t know what the students’ responses were, but I did think it a kind gesture to show to the students that the head of this big family cared about them.
Dr. Wu also cared about the administrative staff. He held a party for us to thank us for our hard working. A certificate was presented to those who won the merit award and a cash award of NT5,000 (out of Dr. Wu’s own pocket) was also included. It was such a great encouragement!
My son was born in August of 1989, the first boy born to IMB PIs who have joined IMB. Dr. Wu was very happy and threw a party for him and the other newborn (Jia Chi, Dr. Huey-Na Wu’s daughter). Dr. Wu was so considerate. He knew my son was a very difficult baby and I was so worn out. He would help in every possible way for me to work part time, so that I didn’t have to quit my job. It was and it still is impossible to work part time as a civil servant, but my gratefulness for Dr. Wu’s kindness was immeasurable.
I know Dr. Wu was a great scientist. He was a great administrator, too. His death is a loss to us all.
IMB Fei Chen