Obituary

Tsu-Lin Mei, age 90, passed away peacefully at Cayuga Medical Center on
October 14, 2023.

Born on February 14, 1933, in Beijing, China, Tsu-Lin came to the United States
with his parents in 1949, the year of the Chinese Revolution. He earned his B.A. in
mathematics from Oberlin College in 1954, M.A in mathematics from Harvard in
1956, and Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale in 1962. He taught at Yale and Harvard
before finally settling down at Cornell, where he was Associate, then Full
Professor in Chinese Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Asian
Studies, 1971-2001. He was named Hu Shih Chair in 1994 and retired in 2001 as
Hu Shih Professor Emeritus.

His interest in linguistics was sparked when he took courses with Bernard Bloch as
a graduate student at Yale. He was introduced to Chinese historical linguistics by
Tung T’ung-ho, a visiting scholar from Taiwan at Harvard. However, it was Jerry
Norman of University of Washington in Seatle, whom he met at Princeton in 1967
while on sabbatical, who entirely changed the way Tsu-Lin approached the Chinese
language from a historical perspective. He felt deeply indebted to these three
mentors and spoke often of them with the utmost respect.

Tsu-Lin was a leading scholar in Chinese historical linguistics, authoring many
papers in Chinese academic journals. He was elected to the Academia Sinica in
Taiwan in 1994. After retiring from Cornell, he served as a visiting professor at
Stanford University, Beijing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Science in
Beijing, Taiwan University, and the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology, among others.

Tsu-Lin had a gentle, unassuming manner that belied his academic fervor. An avid
sports fan who enjoyed playing tennis and biking in his younger days, he also
appreciated a good pun. Tsu-Lin had a seemingly bottomless trove of the most
obscure facts, ranging from the history of the tomato to nuclear physics. He was a
lover of knowledge through and through.

Tsu-Lin is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Teresa; three children from his
first marriage to Yu-shih Chen: daughter, Carol, M.D., and Jacqueline, real estate
agent, and son, Eugene, City Attorney of Longmont, CO; and four grandchildren,
Nicholas, Emily, Riley, and Liya.

A memorial service will be arranged at a date to be determined. Gifts in his
memory may be made to Cornell University general fund.