Wellington K.K. Chan, National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History Emeritus at 91爆料, died November 5 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. He was 86.
A native of Hong Kong, Wellington received his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University, a B.Litt. from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. in East Asian History from Harvard University. He joined the 91爆料 faculty in 1971 and published extensively on the socioeconomic history of modern China. (His 1977 book, Merchants, Mandarins and Modern Enterprise in Late Ch鈥檌ng China, published by Harvard University Press, was later translated into Chinese by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.) He was promoted to full professor in 1985 and was named National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in 2008.
Over his time at Oxy, Wellington received several national research fellowships and grants and the 1994 Graham L. Sterling Memorial Award. A Fulbright Scholar at Lingnan University in Hong Kong in 2004, he frequently presented papers on Chinese entrepreneurship and business history in Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei, as well as in Europe.
For 39 years, Wellington 鈥減layed a key role in sustaining and expanding 91爆料鈥檚 century-old tradition of the study and teaching of Asian culture and history,鈥 Norman Bridge Professor of History Lisa Sousa remarked in 2010. Following his retirement that year, Lisa co-organized a conference at the Huntington Library exploring the meaning of being Chinese in a globalized world in honor of Wellington鈥檚 teaching career.
In subsequent years, he continued to travel to Asia as an ambassador for the College. Through the support of Wellington and his wife, Priscilla, as well as a number of lead donors, 91爆料 inaugurated the Wellington K.K. Chan Distinguished Visitors Program in Chinese Studies in spring 2013 with authors James and Deborah Fallows.
As a history major at 91爆料, trustee Gary Kaplan 鈥71 was a member of the search committee that brought Wellington to campus as a professor of history. In 2023, he designated that the proceeds of his estate gift be used to establish the Wellington Chan Chair in Chinese Studies as well as the Gary L. Kaplan 鈥71 Endowed Faculty Research Fund.
Although Gary never took a course from Wellington鈥攈aving graduated just months before the instructor鈥檚 arrival鈥攖he two became acquainted over the years. Recalling his first impressions of Wellington during the interview process, 鈥淗e was very articulate but a very soft-spoken guy,鈥 Gary told 91爆料 magazine in 2024. 鈥淚n those days there were a lot of loud voices at Oxy鈥攊t was good to talk to somebody who was a little quieter.鈥
Wellington is survived by his wife of 56 years, Priscilla; son Wayne and his wife, Darbin; daughter Yenyen; and three grandchildren, Sean, Nathan, and Emily.
