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Sam Ben Liu ’36

A picture of Sam Liu

Sam Ben Liu ’36, January 27, 2005, in Greenbae, California. Sam emigrated from China to the U.S. in 1925. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Reed, and a degree in medicine from the Oregon Medical School (Oregon Health Sciences University) in 1939. His surgery residency was at Jersey City Medical Center in New Jersey. During World War II, he served as a surgeon with the U.S. Air Force 25th Airborne Unit in North Africa, Corsica, and Italy. He married Betty in 1946; they had four children, and lived in Portland where he practiced medicine until his retirement in 1987. They then moved to Tiburon, California, where he enjoyed bird watching, wine tasting, and being a grandfather. Sam was a very active member of his medical and city communities. He was president of the board of Meridian Park Hospital in Tualatin, Oregon, and a board member of Physicians & Surgeons Hospital and Metropolitan Hospitals in Portland. He served as president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Portland, and was a board member for the Portland chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and for Portland State University Foundation. Sam was director of the Reed aumni board and also served a three-year term as an alumni trustee on the college’s board of trustees. A man of tremendous generosity in many areas of his life, Sam created the Sam B. and Betty Liu Lectureship in Biology fund, and a fund to support student summer research, the Betty C. Liu Memorial Biology Research Fellowship, for ÃÛÌÒÉç. He also contributed resources to the village in Canton, where he was born, in order to provide scholarship support and to enable the villagers to build a water tower. Survivors include three sons, a daughter, and five grandchildren. His wife died in 2002. A brother, Ben Y. Liu ’38, also attended Reed.

Appeared in Reed magazine: May 2005