Clement C. Liu 劉輯唐

July 1934 — January 2021

Clement C. Liu passed peacefully the morning of January 9, 2021 at the age of 86. He was born in Nanking, ( 南京 , aka Nanjing) China as the first son of 劉守愚 (Liu Shuo-Yu), 張芳亭 (Chang Fontine).

He studied at 師大附中 , the high school affiliated with Taipei Teacher's University. He then attended 中興大學 in the College of Law and Business of National Chung Xien University in Taiwan. Later, he moved to the United States and graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Trine University in Angola, IN.

He lived and worked across the country, including at Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas; Litton Industries, Northern New Jersey; Honeywell, Minneapolis, MN, Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurst, NJ; Lockheed Martin/General Electric, Orlando, FL; and Raytheon, Marlborough, MA; Old Bridge, NJ; and Arlington, MA.

Handsome, clever, a little mischievous, and a natural leader, Clement always found a way to make life an interesting adventure with his siblings and many friends in his youth. Once, during the Second World War, when his family was living in the countryside in China, he brought a couple of his younger siblings out to play. He led them to a sloping field of sweet potato plants, where he decided they would slide down the endless bed of leaves that covered the hill. After a fun-filled afternoon, the children were surprised to find their pants all covered in green. They had to sneak in from the back door to avoid being seen by their mother. Another time, his mother told the children not to eat some cookies she had put in the dining room. When she left the room, he ate a cookie and called out for his sister to stop eating the cookies. Of course, she was not even in the room at the time! He would also tease his sisters that he was almost done with the pastries, fruits, or sweets that they were sometimes given and pretend he was coming to eat theirs, claiming:  " Look, I am finishing mine soon!" And they would giggle and run away.

Clement was also generous at heart. When he had just moved to the states, he surprised his younger sisters by giving them each a stylish wool mink-collared suit from a New York City boutique. Not realizing they were $100 each (an extravagant sum at the time), he was too embarrassed to not purchase them at the register. When he sent the suits to his sisters in Taipei, he told their mother that it only cost $75 for both, fearing she would get upset that he had spent too much of his hard-earned money. He also would go out of the way to help out or lend things to people, like when he lent his sister his nice jacket to go to a special concert back when they were in Taipei or when he outran a three-wheeled cabbie to make sure his sister didn't return to boarding school without her watch. He went back to Taipei after his mother passed away for more than a year to take care of his nanny, whom the family lovingly called Da-naima and who took care of Clement since he was a baby. At that point, she had spent her whole life with the family. Then, he settled her in a senior living home before returning to the states.

Clement was a man who deeply enjoyed life, conversation, and friendships. He maintained his acute sense of curiosity throughout his life. Upon retirement, he consumed books of all genres by the shelf, often reading from morning to night. He was an avid stamp collector, had a vast knowledge of arms, and was interested in all manner of airplanes. He was also talented with oil painting and photography, often exploring the city he loved, New York City, to take photos. He used to visit on weekends, especially when he lived close by in New Jersey. He had a gift of conversation and was known to be a very generous, unique, and likable person, which earned him lifelong friends and a position as a favorite uncle and great uncle.

Each year, his nephews and nieces all eagerly awaited his Christmas gift of a box of chocolates, setting family traditions for the arrival of the holidays. He also worked to create the 1979 Ideal electronic board game Electronic Detective that he gifted to them one year. The game, now a classic for the retro-gaming community, is featured in this WIRED article: https://www.wired.com/2011/07/geekdad-retro-gaming-electronic-detective/

He is survived by his siblings: Su-qin Yang, Frances Chen, Stanley Liu, Monica Chang, Phyllis Osheroff, and their families.