Obituary: Professor Chin Hoong Fong

Emeritus Professor Chin Hoong Fong
by Gloria Goh

Our esteemed Inaugural President, Emeritus Professor Chin Hoong Fong, passed away peacefully on 18 March 2018. He turned 83 on 21 February 2018.

I would like to honour and celebrate his life and all that he has done for the alumni of the University of Melbourne and for our alma mater.

In 1986, Professor Chin accepted the challenge of setting up an alumni association in Malaysia. Through his persistence and perseverance, the University of Melbourne Alumni Association in Malaysia was formed in 1989.

Professor Chin was instrumental in enabling the University of Melbourne Alumni Scholarships in the early 90s. Three Malaysian students benefited.

He was a humble and kind man who generously shared his wealth of knowledge to generations of students. He was a respected lecturer, author, seed specialist, researcher, mentor and poet. He appreciated the simple things in life.

He has inspired many of our alumni to step up and pay it forward. He believed the alumni can be a powerful force to contribute back to the university and to the community through their talent, expertise and financial ability. He loved his Alma Mater, the University of Melbourne.

The University of Melbourne Alumni Association has grown from strength to strength due to the foresight of Professor Chin. He cared about the current and future generation of Malaysian graduates from the University. He had aspired to live up to the University's motto "Postera Crescam Laude", usually translated as "I shall grow in the esteem of future generations".

To me and many who know him, Professor Chin has achieved his dream.

I salute you, Professor Chin, and may all alumni aspire to follow in your footsteps.

May Professor Chin rest in eternal peace.

Gloria Goh

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Eulogy for Prof Chin
by Gloria Goh
23 March 2018
10am

Church of St Francis Xavier
Jalan Gasing, PJ

Eulogy

Colin, Simon, Vincent & your families & relatives

Thank you for the opportunity for the University of Melbourne Alumni Association for Malaysia (UMAA) and our alumni community to pay tribute to Prof Chin & celebrate his life.

Dato' Mustapa Mohamed, Minister for International Trade & Industry, an alumnus and Patron, has asked that we convey his condolences and his gratitude for Prof Chin's service to our community.

Ang Hean Leng, our President, currently overseas, conveyed his condolences and gratitude for Prof Chin's contributions.

I met Prof Chin in 1986. He was instrumental in setting up our alumni association. He planted the seeds and nurtured UMAA through the fragile growth stage. By 1989, UMAA was REGISTERED. Today, we are in our 29th year.

Prof Chin was our Inaugural President & unofficial mentor. We are strong today because of his stewardship.

His life-long devotion to education and research is unmatched. In 1994, the University of Melbourne awarded Prof Chin an Honorary Doctorate in Agricultural Science for his contribution to tropical seed technology. A rare distinction.

(Post retirement, he had continued to do his research and work for Biodiversity International without remuneration.)

We knew him as:
• a calm, soft spoken, kind, selfless, humble leader.
• a life-long educator, author, poet
• a man of integrity
• the hibiscus man, seed man.

At the University of Melbourne, our alma mater, he was well respected. In the 1990s, the University agreed to fund a scholarship for Malaysian students. It was through his efforts. 3 deserving young Malaysians benefited over a 6 year period.

Over the past 3 years, Prof Chin served on our UMAA panel to award bursaries to young Malaysians who faced financial difficulties while studying at our alma mater. 10 young undergraduates had benefitted.

He cared for the well-being of our alumni. He shared his wisdom and values with us in so many ways, not least by the way he lived. In his quiet way, he enjoyed attending our alumni events and interacting with alumni of all ages. After each event, he would print selected photos for us. He made us feel valued. He remembered our little stories and encouraged each and every one of us in our endeavours.

Every Christmas we received an e-card & a poem.

On a personal note, when I travelled, Prof Chin only asked that I send him photos so that he could enjoy his arm-chair travel. He would print the photos that he liked.

Last year, he set me an unusual task - to eat a Hokkaido 7-tiered rainbow ice-cream on his behalf. He loved ice-cream. We found a 6-tiered one in Otaru, an hour's train ride away from Sapporo. With such a keen eye, Prof immediately noted my ice-cream was one tier short! Still, I hoped I had made him happy.

We, the alumni, are honoured & privileged to have known Prof Chin. He will forever remain in our hearts and be our guiding light. His achievements will live on with the seeds he had planted in the lives of all he touched.

He had aspired to live up to the University's motto "Postera Crescam Laude" - "To grow in the esteem of future generations".

We will honour him by always doing our best for the generations to come.

May Prof Chin rest in peace.