The Loo Family Genealogy

Biography of Ping-Yok Loo

1894-1958

Place of birth: Chinkiang, China, in September 1894.
Married in 1920? to Alice C. Chang (1898-Feb. 20, 1972), daughter of Chang Ying-Tang, First Chinese Ambassador to the US (1909-1913)
Residence: 271-273 Dumbarton Rd (now 57 Yunnan Rd.), Tientsin, China from 1920 to 1936.
Four children: Eileen(1920-), Harry (1922-1938), Louise (1924-), Man-Kit (1925-1985). One brother: Ping-Tien Loo. (1884-19?).
Died Monday, Oct. 13, 1958 in New York City, New York. See New York Times Obituary
Buried at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.

Education:
BS, ME, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (1916) Mr. Loo states on an insurance form that he studied for 10 years in the US.

Employment:
Assistant Engineer, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, (1916 - 1918)
Engineer, Allied Machinery Company of America (1918-1923)
Manager, American Machinery & Export Co. (1923-1927)
General Manager/President, The China Engineering Co., Ltd, 30 Brennan Rd., Shanghai, China (with offices in Tientsin and Nanking) (1927-1944)
C. J. Doughty & Co. (1936- ) as Partner.
In 1946, Mr. Loo returned to the United States and was an organizer of Wha, Ning and Walsh Construction Company, with headquarters in Shanghai, founded to undertake recon- struction projects in China. The concern had to abandon activities in 1948, after the Communists had assumed power.
In 1936, Mr. Loo moved with his family to Shanghai, and left the house in Tientsin in the care of his brother's daughter, Suzanne, who was married to Dr. Charles Bien. Sometime later, the Bien's left Tientsin, and it is unknown who stayed in the house after that. Mr. Loo and his family stayed in Shanghai for a period of 2 years to 1938, but the turmoil was too great, due to the 2nd Japanese invasion. In 1938, his eldest son died at the age of 16, and his oldest daughter, Eileen was sent to the US to study at Wellesley College in Boston, Massachusetts and the family moved to Hong Kong. They stayed there until November 1941, at which time, he sent his wife, Alice and his remaining children, Louise and MK to the United States while he remained in China. Of the three ships leaving Hong Kong harbor that day, my mother witnessed the sinking of the first and last. My mother enjoyed the trip immensely, as they were traveling first class, but the other two members of the family were quite seasick during the entire voyage. Mr. Loo's family arrived in San Francisco at the end of November, one week before Pearl Harbor, and then traveled by train to Boston, to stay with Eileen. When Eileen graduated, she married Ieoh-Ming Pei, the famed Chinese-American Architect. At this time, Mr. Loo's wife and Louise moved to 1150 Park Avenue, 11th floor and later Mrs. Loo lived at 1065 Lexington Ave. and 55 East End Ave. MK stayed in Boston to continue his studies at Worchester Polytechnic while Eileen also moved to New York City with her husband. Louise studied at Finch College and New York University and married Dr. En-Chu Yen in 1946.

Here is another bit of history I just found on the MIT website:

PING YOK LOO ELECTED WRESTLING CAPTAIN

Team Holds Annual Banquet- G. H. Stebbins Elected Next Year's Manager.

At the annual banquet of the wrestling team last Saturday evening at the Hotel Plaza, Ping Yok, Loo, '16, was elected captain of next year's wrestling team. Loo has been a member of the team for the past three years and has in that time lost only one bout in his class, that being in the first year of his wrestling. Loo came from Tientsin, China, five years ago and prepared for Technology at Springfield High School. He is a member of the Mechanical Engineer- ing Society and of the Cosmopolitan Club. So far as is known, he is the only Chinese student who is leading a Varsity team.

Biography of Ping-Yok Loo 1894-1958

Biography of Ping-Yok Loo

1894-1958