Research scientist Qiuyan Wu dies at 58

Princeton resident Qiuyan Wu died on Feb. 4. She was 58.

Qiuyan was born in Jinjiang, China in 1963 and later moved to Quanzhou, where she met her best friend and future husband, Sean Shuyong Chen, at the age of 12. Both Sean and Qiuyan went on to graduate from Xiamen University, would later marry in 1986, and immigrated to the United States together in 1989. Qiuyan and Sean built a full and beautiful life together, raising two daughters and calling Princeton their home for the last 24 years. She started her career in biology as a self-taught technician and was a research scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb in Lawrenceville, where she was employed for the last 18 years.  

Qiuyan loved learning new things and enjoyed taking photographs, making art, singing in the church choir, tending to flowers (especially orchids), reading Chinese blogs (a family joke), and helping others. She was a quick study who could pick up anything and naturally end up doing it better than anyone else. She was the best cook who nurtured all those around her, the best person to have in your corner, and the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, colleague, and friend that anyone who was lucky to have known her could have asked for. Above all, Qiuyan was the fiercest protector of her family; the depth of our loss is only a reflection of the deepest of loves she unconditionally showed.

She is survived by her husband, Sean Chen; two daughters and a son-in-law, Linda Chen, Alice Chen-Taylor and Alex Taylor; father and mother, Zunzuo Wu and Ruiqing Chen; and two sisters, Jiayan Wu and Luyan Wu, and their respective families.

A Memorial Service will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. with visitation beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, at the Princeton Christian Church, 471 Cherry Valley Road, Princeton, NJ 08540. Qiuyan was a faithful member of the church who loved the Lord, and the family is comforted in knowing that she is healed and whole as she is with her Savior, Jesus Christ. The family is grateful to the Princeton Christian Church community for their tremendous care and ongoing support.

The family would also like to thank all the nurses, doctors, and staff in the Neurocritical Care Unit at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital of New Brunswick for the compassion, dignity, and respect they showed to Qiuyan and her family. In keeping with her kind and generous spirit, Qiuyan’s family is also grateful to the NJ Sharing Network for the opportunity to give the gift of life through the donation of her organs.