In my 20 years of teaching, I have given many speeches including keynote speeches at several academic and professional conferences. However, I have never expected to give a speech at my son Jerry Chen’s memory service. I am just totally unprepared. I am sure that I will be a terrible speaker today. From last Wednesday when I heard that Jerry had passed away, Ping and I did not want to believe that our beloved son is gone.

Sometimes, Jerry is more like a very close friend of mine. We chatted about sports, in particular, UCLA, Lakers, and CSUN teams. We chatted about politics, real estate, stock market, economy, and China. We watched Jay Leno’s Tonight Shows, Lakers games, and movies together several hundred times since your were a junior in high school. Jerry always emailed me interesting articles related to Finance and China from LA Times and Time magazine even when I was out of the country. Jerry, I really appreciated that you gave your mom and me so many wonderful memory and happiness over the past 25 years. You always smiled even when you got hurt several times from riding a bicycle, motorcycle, and playing basketball. I don’t even remember the last time I saw you cry.  

Jerry told me several times: “Daddy, life is short. You don’t need to work so hard. You have been a tenured full professor for such a long time. You should spend more times with mom for sightseeing, going to movies, and enjoy outdoor life in LA”. Jerry, your 89-year old grandma living with your Aunt has asked many times since last Wednesday “Will Jerry come home this long weekend?” Because she wanted us to all have dinner together as a family. I had no choice but to tell her yesterday that you transferred to HK and will be there for a while. Thus you can have fun with Vicky. She smiled and said “Good for Jerry, I am so proud for him to be transferred to HK and stay close with Vicky.”

Since last Friday, so many of jerry’s friends and Andrea’s friends stopped by our house and stayed until 4 or 5 am to organize the whole program. I was deeply touched by their friendship and love. Dr. Jack Chen told me Sunday Morning everything is under control. I know that I have a long list of people to thank. My daughter Andrea will thank them shortly.

Finally, I would like to say “Jerry, don’t worry about your mom, Andrea, and me. We are going to smile like you and tell everybody “everything will be all right, don’t worry”. Jerry, “Yi Ru Zuo Hao”, I love you!

Eulogies

Appreciation Remarks from Jerry's Sister......................................................................................................Ms. Andrea Chen

From Jerry's Cousin...............................................................................................................................Ms. Claudia Chen

From Jerry's Girlfriend.................................................................................................................................Ms. Vicki Chin

From Jerry's Friend at Trammell Crow...........................................................................................................Ms. Patti Maude

From Jerry's Friend at Trammell Crow..........................................................................................................Ms. Diana Wyant

From Jerry's Brother of Lambda Phi Epsilon.......................................................................................................Dr. Jack Chen

From Jerry's Brother of Lambda Phi Epsilon.......................................................................................................Mr. Frank Ngo

From Jerry's High School Friend......................................................................................................................Mr. Peter Kim

From Jerry's High School Friend....................................................................................................................Mr. Samuel Lin

From Jerry's Friend at Trammell Crow...............................................................................................................Mr. Ron Heim

Concluding Remarks From Jerry's Father.........................................................................................................Dr. Chao Chen

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