1968 – 2013
Benny Ping-Chung Shum died at his East Palo Alto home in late October. The cause of death is still pending, but Ben had endured a long struggle with depression and alcohol addiction.
Ben was born in Hong Kong and raised in a Catholic family, but he schooled at the prestigious, Anglican-run Diocesan Boys School. He came to the U.S. for college, earning a B.A. from New College of Florida and an M.S. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Miami.
He moved to the Bay Area and performed laboratory research at Stanford and at biotech companies Epitomics, PDL BioPharma, and MedImmune. Ben taught biology at local University of Phoenix campuses and was author or co-author of 20 published scientific papers. He was also a Frameline volunteer and a member of South Bay Queer Asians. He earned $50,000 on TV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2009.
Ben was the partner of San Francisco journalist Randy Alfred, and is also survived by parents Stephen and Kitty Shum of Hong Kong; sister Cecilia Shum Hung, brother-in-law Rex Hung and niece Jadyn Hung of Bellevue, Washington; and other relatives in Washington state, Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia. Close friends Eleanor Taylor of Mountain View and Winston Cheng of Seattle and many others mourn him as well.
Visitation will be 10 a.m. and a funeral service 11 a.m. Saturday, November 23, at Crippen and Flynn Woodside Chapel, 400 Woodside Road, Redwood City.