It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we share the news that Tom Yih Kang passed peacefully with his wife and eldest son by his side from lung cancer on January 2, 2023, at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, age 71.

Tom was born on September 30, 1951, in Taipei, Taiwan, to Lieutenant General (ROCAF) Pao-Pu Kang and Mary Hung-Hsia Kang. The third of four brothers, Tom spent his childhood in both Taiwan and Japan due to his father's military assignments. Tom was the most gentle and obedient of the four. As children, they often played in their Uncle's orchard farm which was full of oranges, vegetables, and farm and wild animals. One day, while exploring, they accidentally disturbed an enormous beehive, triggering a massive wave of bee attacks. Instead of screaming and running like a reasonable 12-year-old would, Tom stood there alone trying to use his slingshot to shoot down the bees while getting stung all over his body. The brothers later laughed at his swollen face and futile attempt, but Tom insisted he had shot down multiple bees and considered himself a fearless fighter. This stubbornness and fearlessness were defining characteristics that he carried with him in life.

Tom attended the prestigious National Taiwan University and was a member of the school's basketball team. He graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1973, before serving in the Army of the Republic of China. After his honorable discharge as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1975, Tom moved to New York for graduate school.

Arriving at Times Square by bus, his friend failed to pick him up. With four feet of snow, little money, and zero concept of snow clothes, he spent his first night in an adult movie theater as it was the cheapest place within walking distance to not freeze to death. Things improved after that first night, and he finally took his studies seriously and graduated with a Master's Degree in Industrial Management from Clarkson's University in 1977 and returned back to Taiwan where he worked at China Steel Corp.

It was at China Steel that Tom met his wife, Silvia. As she tells it, China Steel had 5000 male employees and about a hundred female employees. While on a walk during an early date, Tom was able to maneuver them into a prominent square on campus. In her youthful ignorance and innocence, she did not realize that being seen in such a space as a "couple" would prevent other suitors. That cunning ploy paved the way for their loving, 40 plus year relationship. They married in 1979, and both decided to return to New York for additional graduate studies; Tom at Columbia University and Silvia at St. John's.

Living in Queens and commuting by bus and subway to school, they were poorer than they realized, epitomized by the story they famously and continuously told their kids about the time Tom had to ponder for five minutes whether he could afford hot dogs from a cart vendor while out on a date together. Eventually he decided he could stretch the budget to buy a single hot dog that they could share. This frugal lifestyle, which followed him despite later success allowed them to persevere together, working and putting themselves through school.

Tom's years in New York included a litany of terrible jobs: working at a chocolate factory; slicing deli/roast beef; being a busboy (where, in response to a customer ordering a Bloody Mary; Tom replied that there was no Mary in the restaurant), and the worst job Tom said he ever had—shucking oysters and getting paid pennies per dozen shucked.

Tom graduated from Columbia in 1981 with a Master's degree in Operations Research. He returned to Taiwan and resumed working at China Steel Corp before moving to Citibank as a finance/loan officer. His son Jack was born in 1982, and he often bragged about how he would return from work at Citibank to pick Jack up from daycare and take him home every day. Decades later, Jack discovered this heroic feat of parenting consisted of walking directly across the street from Citibank to the daycare, and then another one block back home, as these three locations were located incredibly close to each other in Taipei city.

In 1986, Tom took a job as Marketing and Sales Director at Quimax Systems, an early developer of CRT monitors, which allowed him to move from Taiwan to Sunnyvale, California, with his family. In 1987, his youngest son Jonathan was born. In 1989, Tom joined TPV Technology, serving as Senior Vice President of Sales and was responsible for its US Company and operations. Tom helped lead TPV to a successful IPO in 1998 and built it into the second largest display manufacturer in the world by the time of his retirement in 2018. With the support of Silvia, Tom focused heavily on his long, successful, and rewarding career and highlighted the following noteworthy accomplishments:

• In the late 1990s, he represented TPV in an anti-dumping lawsuit against the US Department of Commerce and was able to recover $20M in fines from the government back to the company, paving the way for its IPO in 1998.
• In 2008, he was transferred back to headquarters to serve as Chief Strategy Officer. He successfully negotiated with Philips Display to help the TPV brand grow, as well as secured the investment of Japan's Mitsui group to help the development and growth of TPV's TV business department.

In retirement, Tom enjoyed playing golf, making a point to tell his nurses that he wanted to get back to playing golf and proudly sharing that he had played over 100 rounds the year before his illness. He also liked to visit casinos with Silvia, where they would play the slot machines to relax and enjoy their time together. He declined to play other games with better odds as they required brain power, which to him defeated the purpose of going.

As a retirement present, his son Jack got a job for Tom as a consultant for one year for SiFive, a new semiconductor startup company where Jack worked. SiFive achieved unicorn status in 2022. As proud as he was of his own career accomplishments, Tom expressed greater joy and satisfaction in the twin career accomplishments of father and son--he for taking a company public and his son for achieving unicorn status at his company.

Tom was a devoted and loving grandfather, who wanted nothing more than to be able to spoil his grandchildren (Evander, age 34 months and Alec, age 11 months) and hear them call him YeYe. Although painfully shorter than desired, he loved the nearly 3 years he did have with them. During this time, he taught Evander how to dribble and kick a soccer ball, and attended his weekly soccer practices despite his illness. He always wanted to hold Alec, who he called his xiao bao bei (little baby), displaying a level of emotional and physical affection he never showed anybody else in his previous 70 years.

Tom is survived by his wife Hsiuwei Silvia Kang; his son Jack and his wife Kimberly Anderson Kang; his two beloved grandsons Evander and Alec; his 97-year-old mother Mary; and his three brothers Jason, Tony, and James.

Tom is predeceased by and now joins his youngest son Jonathan who passed at age 18 in 2006. He also joins his father Pao-Pu who passed 10 years before to the exact day and hour of Tom's passing, as well as his close sister-in-law Susan Tubbs of Cullman, Alabama, who passed in 2021.

A visitation (10:30 a.m.) and memorial service (11:30 a.m.) will be held on January 17, 2023 at Alameda Family Funeral & Cremation, to be followed by a graveside burial at 2pm at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where Tom will be laid to rest next to his son Jonathan.

A light lunch will be provided following the memorial service.

我們懷着極大的悲痛和沉重的心情分享這一消息:剛逸於2023年1月2日在加州斯坦福醫院因肺癌在其妻子和長子的陪伴下安詳離世,享年71歲。

剛逸於1951年9月30日出生在台灣台北,父親剛葆璞是空軍中將,官至空軍司令,母親孫虹霞為秘書。剛逸是四兄弟中的第三個,由於父親的軍事任務,他的童年在台灣和日本度過。剛逸是四兄弟中性格最溫和、最聽話的一個。小時候,他們經常在伯父的果園農場裡玩耍,那裡有很多橘子、蔬菜、農場和野生動物。有一天,他們在玩耍時,不小心驚動了一個巨大的蜂巢,引發了大規模的蜜蜂攻擊。剛逸沒有像一個尋常的12歲孩子那樣尖叫和奔跑,而是獨自站在那裡,試圖用他的彈弓射下蜜蜂,全身都被蜇了。兄弟們後來嘲笑他的腫臉和徒勞的嘗試,但剛逸堅持說他擊落了多隻蜜蜂,並認為自己是一個無畏的戰士。這種固執和無畏是伴隨了他一生的,最典型的性格特徵。

剛逸就讀於著名的國立臺灣大學,是學校籃球隊的一員。他於1973年畢業,獲得了電子工程學位,之後進入中華民國軍隊服役。 1975年剛逸以少尉身份光榮退役,隨後前往紐約攻讀研究生學位。

當他乘坐巴士到達時代廣場時,他的朋友沒能來接他。伴隨着四英尺厚的雪,一個對雪衣沒有概念,衣着單薄且囊中羞澀的小夥子,在一家成人電影院度過了他在紐約的第一個夜晚——因為那是步行範圍內,不會被凍死,最便宜的地方。情況在第一晚後有所好轉,剛逸終於開始認真學習,在1977年從克拉克森大學畢業,獲得工業管理碩士學位,並回到台灣,進入中國鋼鐵公司工作。

正是在中國鋼鐵公司,剛逸與他的妻子何秀薇相遇了。如秀薇所說,中國鋼鐵公司有5000名男員工和大約100名女員工。在約會初期的一次散步時,剛逸把她引到公司園區里一個十分顯眼的廣場上。正值年輕貌美,純真無知的秀薇並沒有意識到,在這個地方被人看到他們以 "情侶"身份出現,擋住了許多其他追求者。而這個狡猾的技倆為他們長達40多年的相愛鋪平了道路。他們於1979年結婚,兩人都決定回到紐約進修更多研究生學位;剛逸就讀於哥倫比亞大學,而秀薇去了聖約翰大學。

當時他們住在皇后區,每天乘公交和地鐵上下學。生活比他們之前意識到的更窮困。一個他們經常講給孩子們聽的小故事成為他們那段拮据時光的縮影——有一次兩人在紐約市區逛街,想買推車攤上的熱狗,卻反覆糾結考慮了五分鐘。最後在精打細算一番後,剛逸終於決定就買一個熱狗兩人分享,就買一個!儘管後來剛逸取得事業上的成功,這種節儉的生活方式還是經常伴隨著他。也正因當時如此勤勉節儉,剛逸和秀薇能夠一起奮鬥堅持,努力工作並都順利完成了學業。

剛逸在紐約的那些年經歷了一連串糟糕的工作:在巧克力工廠打工;給熟食/烤牛肉切片;在餐廳當打雜工(有一次,一位顧客點了一杯雞尾酒"血腥瑪麗",剛逸回答說這裡沒有瑪麗這個人)。剛逸說他做過的最糟糕的工作是剝牡蠣,剝一打牡蠣只能得到幾分錢的報酬。

剛逸於1980年從哥倫比亞大學畢業,獲得Operations Research碩士學位。他回到台灣重新開始在中國鋼鐵公司工作,之後轉到花旗銀行擔任授信經理。他的兒子Jack於1982年出生,他經常吹噓自己每天從花旗銀行辛苦工作下班以後還要去保母家接兒子Jack回家。幾十年後,Jack發現這個父親口中養育孩子的"英雄壯舉"實際上就是從花旗銀行步行過馬路到對面保母家,然後再走一個街口就到家了,因為這三個地點在台北市的距離非常非常近。

1986年,剛逸出任一家早期CRT顯示器開發商Quimax Systems公司的營銷總監。這份工作也使他能夠和家人一起從台灣搬到加州桑尼維爾。1987年,他的小兒子Jonathan出生。1989年,剛逸加入TPV Technology,擔任銷售部高級副總裁,負責其美國公司及其業務運營。剛逸幫助帶領TPV Technology於1998年成功上市,並在2018年退休前將其打造為世界第二大顯示器製造商。在秀薇的支持下,剛逸得以專注於他漫長、成功並且充滿價值的職業生涯。以下列舉了他值得注意和強調的卓越成就:

• 在20世紀90年代末,他代表TPV參加了對美國商務部的反傾銷訴訟,並成功從政府那裡收回了2000萬美元的罰款,幫助公司在1998年上市的臨門一腳。
• 2008年,他被調回總部,擔任首席戰略官。他成功與Philips Display公司談判,幫助TPV品牌成長,並獲得日本Mitsui Group的投資,為TPV的電視業務部門的發展和成長助力。

退休後,剛逸喜歡打高爾夫球。病中告訴護士,他想重新打高爾夫球,並自豪地分享他在患病前一年打了100多場球。他還喜歡和秀薇一起去賭場,他們會在那裡玩老虎機來放鬆和享受他們在一起的時光。他拒絕玩其他賠率較低的遊戲,因為那些遊戲需要動腦筋,對他來說,這違背了去賭場的目的。

作為退休禮物,兒子Jack為剛逸找了一份工作——在Jack工作的新半導體創業公司SiFive擔任一年的顧問。SiFive在2022年成為了一家"獨角獸"公司。儘管剛逸為自己的職業成就感到自豪,他對父子倆的雙重職業成功表達了更大的喜悅和快樂——他自己幫助一家公司上市,他兒子也帶領自己的公司成為了獨角獸。

剛逸也是一位盡心盡力又充滿慈愛的祖父,他最希望的是能夠寵愛他的孫子們(Evander,34個月大,Alec,11個月大),聽他們叫他 "爺爺"。雖然比他期望的時間少了太多,但他十分珍愛與孫子們在一起的近3年時光。在這段珍貴的時日里,他教Evander如何運球和踢足球,並不顧自己的病情參加每周的足球訓練。他總是想抱着Alec,他親暱地稱Alec是他的 "小寶貝",表現出他在過去70年中從未向其他任何人表達的親密和愛撫。

剛逸身後遺有愛妻何秀薇,兒子至堅(Jack)和兒媳Kimberly Anderson Kang,兩個心愛的孫子Evander和Alec;他97歲的母親孫虹霞;以及他的三個兄弟剛鐵軍、剛鐵棟和剛偉。

剛逸的小兒子至強(Jonathan)於 2006年去世, 年僅18歲。如今,剛逸與Jonathan在天國相見了。他也與他在10年前同日去世的父親以及他親近的妻姊,2021年在阿拉巴馬州去世的Susan Tubbs,在天上團聚了。

探訪(上午10:30)和追悼會(上午11:30)將於2023年1月17日在Alameda Family Funeral & Cremation舉行,隨後將於下午2點在Gate of Heaven Cemetery舉行土葬儀式,剛逸將安息在他兒子Jonathan身邊。

追悼會後將提供簡單的盒餐。