(31) In memory of Professor Sik-Yum Lee

                                   

悼念李錫欽敎授

2018年12月2日於香港今旅酒店

李錫欽教授是我上世紀八十年代任職中文大學統計系創系講座教授時的最得力的助手。他比我年輕四歲，今年六月不幸病逝。他的一生都是服務於中大，培育了不少人才，包括現任中文大學的副校長潘偉賢敎授。

Professor Song, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Good morning!

Although I had made all the preparations to participate in the conference in honour of the late Professor Lee  Sik  Yum and was very much looking forward to it,  recent events in Hong Kong and especially at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were such that I was persuaded by my family and friends to cancel my trip.  I can’t tell you how really sorry and disappointed I’m that I won’t be with you at this  conference.

SY, as we used to call him, was the first person who welcomed me at CUHK when I arrived as the founding chair of the new department. I was 38 and he 34, both in the prime of our lives. At the time, the department consisted of Dr. Chan Ngai Ng (senior lecturer), Lam Hing-Kam (lecturer), Leung Chi-Ying (lecturer), Lee Sik Yum (lecturer) and myself as Professor. There was one assistant computing officer (Mr Chan Kung-Sik, now chair professor at University of Iowa, USA) , one secretary (Billy Lam) and one junior assistant (Wai Kee). The three lecturers were all graduates  of CUHK majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Statistics taught by Dr. Chan Ngai Ng.

As the new department was to launch its major programme in Statistics, we immediately set about designing our programme almost from scratch! We set ourselves the mission of training students who, at the end of the 4-year programme, would be competent professional statisticians with substantial practical skills grounded in  rigorous theoretical knowledge. SY was the person who helped me the most in the design and implementation of our major programme. In it, we introduced a number of novel features. For example, there was an introductory course on Statistics that emphasised concepts rather than those suffocating  mathematical formulas. We also brought in elements of actuarial science such as life tables. All this was in the early  1980s: we were truly ahead of the game! I’m very proud of what we had achieved. In all this, SY played a most significant role and was my indispensable comrade-in-arm.

SY was a Christian, a true Christian. He practised what he learned and preached, always availing himself to his students and colleagues. His warm personality and open-mindedness was legendary. His ex-students, many of whom have achieved great successes in their careers, bear witness to the above statement. He was the lynchpin of our harmonious department, almost like a family, especially in terms of staff-student relations.

SY was a highly accomplished statistician, specialising in structural equations and latent variables, with special reference to psychometrics. I was delighted when CUHK promoted him to a senior lectureship shortly after my return to the U.K. in 1986.  I was even more delighted when he was given a personal chair later, which he thoroughly deserved. I was most touched when he sent me in 2007 his John Wiley book on Structural equations and the North-Holland Handbook,  which he edited, on latent variables and related models. Although I’m only an onlooker in his specialties, I always take great delight in hearing compliments on his work from my colleagues at the London School of Economics and Bologna University in Italy.  

At a more personal level, to me he was like a younger brother. We worked together and played together for almost 4 years. Since I left HK at a young age, I had forgotten many of the local idiosyncratic tradition. SY was the one who would, in his gentle way, remind me what the correct WAY was! He led me to safety, avoiding land mines. Our friendship founded in the 1980s lasted till his untimely demise. In the 1990s, I spent several sabbatical months at CUHK. He would invite me to his home on campus and treated me to various delicacies which he cooked after a game of bridge. Alas, of the four bridge players, only Professor Poon Wai Yin is still around with me sharing the fond memories. When I saw SY in the early 2000, he asked me to let him know of my next visit so that we could have a good time together again. Sadly this was not to be.

Life is a a collection of memories. When I heard the sad news, I was moved by intense emotion, which I recorded in the following poem：

 

                                                卌年彈指一揮間

                                                馬嫽沙田不等閒

                                                學子莘莘為己任

                                                承傳代代見君還

 

I will always treasure the memories of my dear friend, SY.  May he rest in peace!

Finally, I want to end on a happier note. We are gathered here, whether physically or virtually, to celebrate the life of Professor Lee Sik Yum. I can feel that he is watching us this very moment for his  noble spirit will live on.

I wish  this conference great success!

Thank you and good bye!

Forty years, a flicker!

Folks at Shatin were no shirker.

Teaching the young was your devotion.

And you will be remembered,

From generation to generation.

注：香港中文大學位於沙田馬料水，客家人的村落。馬料水的原名是馬嫽水 （並非馬尿水)。嫽是古字，音料，意嬉玩。傳說有一寶安縣官員到赤泥坪催收田糧，他的馬下山到赤泥坪時，飲水、玩水，不捨得離開，所以赤泥坪後被易名為馬嫽水（意馬玩水)。