Ray Wu

Cornell professor of molecular biology and genetics, who was widely recognized as one of the fathers of plant genetic engineering, from which sprang the development of widely grown rice plants resistant to pests, drought and salt. Born in China and educated in the United States, Wu was a scientific adviser to the governments of both China and Taiwan. As such he exerted great influence on U.S.-Chinese cooperation in biological science and education. At Cornell, in 1999 he committed to a gift of $500,000 to establish the Ray Wu Graduate Fellowship in Molecular Biology and Genetics to support a first-year graduate student. He funded the gift over the next five years to create a permanent endowment to support one graduate student each year in the field of molecular biology and genetics. Wu joined the Cornell faculty in 1966, as an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, became a professor in 1972, and in 2004 was named a Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor Molecular Biology and Genetics. He served as department chair (1976-1978) in CornellÕs Section of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty, he was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow, working under Efraim Racker, at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York. He has also worked at Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Beijing on Aug. 14, 1928, Wu came to the United States in 1948 at the urging of his father who at the time was attending professional meetings in San Francisco. He earned his bachelorÕs degree in chemistry from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, in 1950; and then earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955. Wu became a naturalized United States citizen in February 1961. He is survived by his wife, Christina, and two children, Albert Wu '80, M.D. '84, and Alice Wu '82, M.S. '86, and three grandchildren.