Over his 38 years at Tufts, Mathematics Professor Loring Tu has transformed students’ lives through his devotion to classroom teaching. In recent years, he has also invested in the next generation by creating two endowed scholarships and funding three houses that provide on-campus living options for juniors and seniors. 

Now, the longtime professor brings his generous philanthropy to the Science and Engineering Complex with a gift that will rename it the Tsungming Tu Complex in honor of his late grandfather. 

The complex, dedicated in 2017, expanded the university's engineering and science facilities by linking new construction with renovated space. It provides diverse opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations across the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences.

Tsungming (pronounced "tsong-ming") Tu is considered the father of Taiwanese modern medicine. A pioneer in pharmacology, he led a research lab that gave rise to advances in the treatment of opium addiction and venomous snake bites and produced the first generation of Taiwanese biomedical researchers. He also brought a lifelong passion for research and education to founding Taiwan’s first private medical school, Kaohsiung Medical College (now Kaohsiung Medical University).

“I hope future generations of students will feel inspired, in some way, through how he lived his life,” said Tu, who credits his grandfather with instilling in him the virtues of living simply and with concern for helping others in need. The first endowed scholarship Tu created at Tufts is also named after his grandfather and a more recent gift named two residential houses in honor of his two brothers, both with successful careers in academia. 

“Tufts has been my home for so long,” he said, explaining the motivation for his philanthropy. “I am grateful for what Tufts has given me, and so it's a way of giving back. I want to support Tufts, everywhere I can.”

Tufts President Sunil Kumar said Tu’s gift brings vital resources to the university’s commitment to innovation and discovery.

“We are deeply grateful for a gift that will ensure Tufts continues to advance learning, teaching, and research for generations to come,” Kumar said. “Professor Tu’s gift honors the dedication of his grandfather, a pioneering scientist and humanitarian, and deepens the values that define the enduring character of Tufts.”

A Pioneering Doctor

Tsungming Tu’s life was defined by a passion for learning, for research, and for medicine that reached the most marginalized. 

He was born in 1893 in Sanzhi (now a district of New Taipei City) and came of age knowing the meaning of scarcity. His father was a tea farmer who died from injuries sustained in a field accident when Tsungming Tu was just 10. 

Gifted with deep intellectual curiosity, Tsungming Tu sought admission to Taiwan Governor Medical College, the highest academic institution in Taiwan at the time and the precursor of Taipei Imperial University Medical School. He failed the physical test of the entrance exam, and on that alone he could have been rejected, said Loring Tu, “but because of his extraordinary academic performance, they made an exception.”

Tsungming Tu graduated in 1914 from medical college at the top of his class and continued his studies in Japan at Kyoto Imperial University. He specialized in internal medicine and pharmacology. Upon completing his doctoral dissertation in 1922, he was the first person from Taiwan to earn a doctor of medical sciences degree (equivalent to a Ph.D.). 

Preferring research and teaching to practicing medicine, he joined his alma mater, Taiwan Governor Medical College, as a lecturer and was promoted to professor in the same year, the first Taiwanese person to become a professor in Taiwan, all others being Japanese. In 1937, he became professor of medicine at Taipei Imperial University, the only Taiwanese professor in Japan's imperial university system. After World War II, he was named the first dean of National Taiwan University Medical School.

In 1930, Tsungming Tu was appointed by the Japanese colonial government to tackle widespread opium addiction. In setting up Taiwan’s first opium addiction clinic and by introducing new methods for both testing for and treating addiction, he created innovative strategies that, by 1945, effectively eradicated opium use in Taiwan, said Tu.

Tsungming Tu’s epidemiological studies of the snake bite were equally as influential and contributed groundbreaking approaches including insights on both the danger and benefits of venom.

In 1954, he founded Taiwan’s first private medical school, Kaohsiung Medical College, in southern Taiwan. His vision included bringing medical care to Indigenous people who had been pushed into the remote mountain villages, said Loring Tu.

“They had no health care; they had no doctors,” Tu said. “His goal was to have a doctor in every village, and he made it happen—and this was remarkable thinking for back in the 1950s. His success tells me that he was not only a researcher and an educator, but he was also concerned with community service, to reaching people other Taiwanese doctors didn’t want to work with because they were poor or located in remote villages.”

Tsungming Tu died at age 93 in 1986. But Taiwan continues to honor his legacy. At the Visitor Center and Gallery of Famous Sons in Sanzhi District, New Taipei City, he is showcased as one of four celebrated people from Sanzhi who indelibly shaped Taiwan’s heritage.

Tsungming Tu’s extensive collection of ancient books, calligraphies, and inscription rubbings are also now housed in the main library of National Taiwan University. 

A Professor’s Philanthropy

Loring Tu’s affinity for philanthropy grows out of his own life-changing academic opportunities. Financial aid paved the way for his studies first at McGill and then at Princeton, culminating in a Harvard Ph.D. It is in academia that he’s been able to explore his fascination with mathematics, attracted, as he has said, by its “universality, aesthetics, applicability, and certainty.” 

At Tufts, where he joined the faculty in 1986, his focus on manifolds (higher-dimensional analogues of curves and surfaces) has led to an ongoing study of the interplay between algebra and geometry. He has authored or coauthored four influential books on geometry and topology, the mathematical study of spaces and shapes in all dimensions.

Tu realizes that to many people, generous philanthropy from a mathematics professor may come as a surprise. It is also a bit of a surprise to him. “I never expected to be wealthy,” he said. “Maybe having the logical, analytical mind of a mathematician has helped me make better financial decisions.”

Naming the Science and Engineering Complex after his grandfather seemed an apt fit because of its connections to education and research, he said. He also admires how thoughtful materials and design came together to transform what had previously been a small parking lot into the beautiful atrium space that now connects previously existing, freshly renovated buildings to form the complex.

“It’s all glass, so it doesn't feel so massive,” he said. He likes the complex’s central location and how the informal café atmosphere of the atrium also creates a popular meeting place for faculty, students, and staff and strengthens a sense of community.

Inspired by Integrity and Service

The story of Tu’s grandfather, however, and how it informs his giving, is a story that begins with treasured memories.

Tu grew up in a traditional, multigenerational family in Taiwan. Throughout his formative years, from the time he was born until he was 13, his life and his grandfather’s were intertwined. 

He recalls, in one reversal of roles, how his grandfather always enlisted him to recite Japanese folktales to help him drift off to sleep. (And adding to that ritual, said Tu, the bedtime stories were always the same two tales, Tanuki Soup and Peach Boy.)

He also remembers Tsungming Tu’s vitality, and how the failure to pass that physical exam in 1908 spurred him to adopt a regime of rigorous fitness training. Daily habits included chin-ups and exercises in the backyard and open-water swimming. “He would do laps, back and forth, while we kids played on the beach,” said Tu.

That discipline “reflects the perseverance and this determination in his character,” said Tu. 

Although Tu saw his grandfather less often after resettling in the United States when he was 13, the two remained close. His grandfather’s character is perhaps best expressed in two scrolls Tsungming Tu presented to Tu when he was 29. In his grandfather’s distinctive (and highly prized) calligraphy, one reads, “Indifference to fame and fortune shows the way,” while the other reads, “Leading a simple and tranquil life reaches far.”

By those values and by example, Tu said, his grandfather “made me the person that I am today. I admire his integrity, his principles, his community service. His research was all motivated by society’s needs at the time. He also lived quite a spartan life, perhaps as a force of habit, because he grew up with very little. So I live that kind of life, too.”