Paul Chien Min Wu

Paul Chien Min Wu, professor emeritus of civil engineering at West Virginia Institute of Technology, died at the Hubbard Hospice House in Charleston on March 6, 2006, at the age of 83.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Dien Liem Wu; four children, Lisa of Brooklyn, N.Y., James of New York, N.Y., Peter of Brighton, Mich., and Nancy of Brooklyn, N.Y., all of whom were raised and educated in Charleston, Montgomery, and Gauley Bridge; and by four grandchildren, Anthony, David, and Victoria Kerrigan and Odelia Wu.

He is the son of Mr. Pak Ching Wu of Zhejiang Province. He is survived by sister, Wu JiXiang, and brother, Wu YiLi; and was preceded in death by two sisters, all of the People's Republic of China.Mr. Wu was a regular swimmer at the YWCA in Charleston and often could be seen jogging along the Kanawha River in front of the capitol with the family's Norwegian elkhound, Sheba. He practiced Tai Chi and landscaped by his own hand the gardens and fishponds at his home in Charleston. During his tenure at Tech from 1967 to 1988, he educated many engineers in the Kanawha Valley.

Born in Shaoxing, China, he left in 1949, amid war and revolution and lived in Indonesia, serving as a young teacher at the school where he met his future wife. In 1957, he traveled by ship around the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in England, then went to Vienna, Austria, where he studied engineering. In 1959, he came to the United States and eventually received his Master's degree in civil engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Stillwater. He was lawfully admitted as a permanent resident to the U.S. by an act of Congress on Jan. 20, 1960, and became a U.S. citizen in 1969.
In the U.S., he got his first job at the Department of Highways in South Dakota, and soon after sent for Dien. They were married in April 1962, moved to Ohio, and then on to West Virginia, where he lived for 39 years having come from the other side of the world. After retiring from Tech, he continued to live in Charleston, which he loved for the convenience of Yeager Airport, the vitality of the YWCA, and the many people of the community whom he befriended.Professor Wu was a graduate of Tsinghua University in 1945. During the 1980s, he founded a business, which imported modern medical equipment from Europe to China. He was a registered professional engineer in the state of West Virginia, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and an early member of the Association of Chinese Professionals of West Virginia.
Memorial service will be held at Barlow Bonsall Funeral Home, Charleston, on Sunday, March 12, at 2 p.m. with the Rev. Ravid Isiah officiating. The family will receive guests immediately following at the funeral home; all are welcome. The family would like to extend special thanks to the many care givers throughout the area who have given love and support to the Wu's these recent years, and would be happy to receive them; they also welcome any former students who may remember Professor Wu.Condolences may be e-mailed to the family at www.barlowbonsall.com.

Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.