1941 �" 2009
William Liu passed away on December 27 of liver cancer, at the age of 68. Born in 1941 in Tientsin, China, he came to the US with his mother in 1974, by way of Berkeley, California. He graduated from Cal in 1977, and then taught at Berkeley's Center for Chinese Studies, before moving on to Wellesley College, outside Boston, in 1979. There he taught Chinese and film courses in the language department. In 1985 William moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he was Director of Interpretation and Translation Programs at Simon Fraser University. He retired last year.
William was a true scholar, with a voracious appetite for books, music and film, as viewed from gay or feminist viewpoints. He absolutely loved Jane Austin's works. It was apparent that life in the US and Canada provided him the freedom to take in all of the things that he was forced to deny in China during the Cultural Revolution.
With his cousin Eleanor, he wrote a book, Grace, an American Woman in China, 1934 to 1974 about the lives of his mother and family in China.
William is survived by his husband, Ray Feenstra, of Vancouver; nieces Ellen, Julia, Annie, Tracey with their families in Boston, Tientsin, and Beijing, along with his many other family members and friends in Chattanooga, San Francisco, Boston, Vancouver, and Seattle.