Obituary of Dr. Ka-Sing Lau

Dr. Ka-Sing Lau On the evening of Tuesday, October 12,2021 Dr Ka-Sing Lau, 72, passed away after a 7 year battle with mantle cell lymphoma while being attended by his wife Eveline Young. Dr Lau was 72 years old. Born on December 16,1948 in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. Dr. Lau obtained his bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1968 and his PhD from the University of Washington at Seattle in 1972, under the supervision of Robert R. Phelps. After spending 2 years at the University of Chicago as an instructor, he joined the department of mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 as an assistant professor, where he was promoted to associate professor in 1980 and full professor in 1986. In 1996 he joined the CUHK as Professor of Mathematics, and was the chair of the department of Mathematics from 1996 to 2012. He served as the Associate Director of the Institute of Mathematics Science 1996-98. He had been Professor Emeritus of CUHK since 2017. He was a visiting scholar in more than 10 universities and institutes including Institute of Advance Study at Princeton from 1982 to 1983. In the winter of 1991, he was a Fulbright Fellow at the Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi, India. This resulted in the publication of the book “Functional Equations in Probability Theory”. He was president of the Hong Kong Mathematical Society during 2002-2004. He served on the editorial board of several journals, including the Asian Journal of Mathematics, the Journal of Fractal Geometry and the Science China Mathematics. Ka-Sing’s areas of research were functional analysis, harmonic analysis, fractal geometry, wavelet theory, and applied probability. He published more than 150 research papers in these areas. Ka-Sing had trained and mentored 24 PhD students and 12 post-docs, most of them are currently working in top universities in China, USA and Europe. He had more than 15 MPhil students under his supervision. In 2017 Ka-Sing retired and returned to his permanent home in Pittsburgh, PA. He has been Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at University of Pittsburgh since 2017. In addition to his parents Ngai Fun Lau, father and mother Kwoon Ying Yeung, Dr Lau was preceded in death by his sisters: Ka Nor Lau and Claudia Ka Yeun Lau. In addition to his wife Eveline Young, he is survived by daughters—Helen (Scott Taylor), Elaine (Ryan McGinn); 5 grandchildren—Eli Taylor, Evie Taylor, Elsa Taylor, Haddie McGinn and Sidney McGinn; and siblings—Ka Yee Lau of Hong Kong, Siu Por Lau of NJ, Ka Ning of NJ, Ka Lee Lau of China, William Ka Ming Lau of Maryland Yuen Kam Lau of Hong Kong and Ka Chung of CA. Friends will be received at McCabe Bros., Inc. Funeral Home, 6214 Walnut Street, Shadyside on Tuesday, October 19th from 11:15 am until time of memorial service at 12 noon. Interment to follow at Homewood Cemetery. PLEASE WEAR A MASK while in the funeral home and at the service. In lieu of flowers make a gift to the Ka-Sing Lau Scholarship for Mathematics, payable to “The Chinese University of HK Foundation, Inc.” https://tinyurl.com/Ka-Sing-Lau-Scholarship-Fund Condolences may be left at www.mccabebrothers.com