Dr. Cheh Pan passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 7:00 AM Pacific standard time in Saratoga, California. He will be remembered for his honesty, determination, integrity, and dedication to science.

Dr. Pan was born in a small mountainous village named Shangtan in eastern Zhejiang province in China. As the youngest son (both of his two elder brothers passed away from tetanus within 10 days of birth), he had quite an adventurous and very challenging upbringing as a mountain boy. He survived the Japanese-Sino wars (World War 2 in China), diseases, and dangerous wildlife and vagabonds. At the same time, he also self-educated himself in a very rural part of China independently starting at the age of 3, as schools were either shut during the war years or too far away to attend. For example, he stayed at a boarding elementary school for a semester and during break, decided to walk home by himself without food or money for 35 miles through treacherous mountainous paths. He worked very hard and got admitted to prestigious middle schools in Taipei, when his parents were finally able to transport and reunite with him in Taiwan. There, he continued his education through college, as well as served in the Taiwanese military in order to satisfy the mandatory service requirement. Dr. Pan was then invited to continue his higher education in the United States of America.

Dr. Pan went on to obtain a Bachelors of Science in Geology in 1956 from Taida University (National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan), a Masters of Science in Geophysics in 1963 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate degree from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Pan also spent 3 years researching at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. Dr. Pan dedicated his life to science, focusing on GeoDynamics, and is a well-published scientist with several patents ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cheh-Pan ).

A few interesting life experiences about Dr. Pan include:

• He originally wanted to study astrophysics, however, that subject was not offered in most if not all universities back then
• He was an amateur boxer
• He once was approached by Hollywood movie star, John Wayne, to be in several westerns with him, when he was stationed as a research scientist at the Colorado School of Mines
• He had a reddish blond beard whenever he rarely grew it out, even at old age
• He enjoyed Chinese opera immensely and would put it on the TV every weekend
• Due to his love of Chinese classical literature and poetry, he created new characters for his children's Chinese names, which all comprised of 3 marks representing water

The most profound proverb he read from a historical Chinese novel that stuck with him since childhood was:

"A leopard leaves its skin after death; a man leaves his name after gone."

This became his second goal in life, as he has said to have no interest in materialism.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Wei, his 3 children, Huang, Sue, and Joan, and 3 grandchildren, Zachary, Arielle, and Zoe.

Dr. Pan's viewing ceremony will be at the Alameda Family Funeral & Cremation in Saratoga, California at 10:00 AM PST on February 16, 2022. His ash interment will be at 11:00 AM PST at the Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga, California on February 18, 2022.