Jaming Pan Obituary (1929 - 2026) - Northbrook, Illinois

Jaming Pan 潘鎭銘教授, 96, retired professor, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully on August 12, 2026. Jaming was born on December 9, 1929, in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. He left China when he was 17 and moved to Taipei, Taiwan, where he graduated from Taiwan Normal University and served in the army, where he was a translator. He also loved writing and reading short stories, especially those of Guy de Maupassant, and he often wrote stories to sell to the newspapers to make money. In 1957, he moved to the United States, where he earned a Masters Degree from Northwestern University and then a Doctorate from Illinois Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering. At that time, there were very few Chinese students in Illinois, so a Chinese Catholic priest, Father Fu, occasionally hosted parties in Chicago for Chinese graduate students where they could socialize. At one of these parties in 1959, our mother drove up to Chicago from Carbondale, Illinois. Our dad was also at this party, and our mom asked him to dance. In this last year since losing our mom, our dad often reminisced about their meeting, and always questioned why our mom would ever want to choose him to dance. He said the ratio of Chinese men to women at that time was 10 to 1, and he never took for granted that our mom forced him to dance that night. They married on August 26, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois, and started their family in 1964. Even though our father originally came to the States with hopes of working in the space race, he found a job at Purdue University as a physics professor and even was Department Chair of Chemistry and Physics for a few years. Our mom did not enjoy living in West Lafayette, so our dad switched campuses to Hammond, Indiana, so she could be close to Chicago, where our family first lived in Park Forest, Illinois, then Homewood, Flossmoor, and finally Palatine. The other story our dad told often and proudly was that when he proposed, he was $1500 in debt from a car loan, but our mom still took a chance on him. Jaming led a distinguished 57 year career at Purdue University, retiring as Professor Emeritus. His years of service were more than the age of the Human Resources person who did his paperwork. While we’re not sure he loved teaching (he often said he never learned his students’ names), he sure did love physics. Jaming also had a deep love for Chinese calligraphy, ballroom dancing, photography, and travel. Even in this last year, he wrote Chinese calligraphy for the other residents at his senior living facility. His greatest love, however, was China and Chinese food, especially noodles of all kinds, particularly with seafood. Jaming is survived by his children, Wilbur (Mary) Pan, Hubert (Elaine) Pan, and Wileen (John) Hsing. He was the grandfather (“Yehyeh” and “Gonggong”) of Kyra, Sydney, James, and Kevin Pan, and Sophia Hsing. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Clara Pan. A celebration of his life is being planned for August 16, 2026 at Glenview Banquet. More information can be found here. Arrangements are being made by Inclusive Funeral Care, 773-318-1305 or www.InclusiveFuneralCare.com.