Mark C. Chen

Mark C. Chen, longtime resident of Oakwood Road in Fairfax, Wilmington, DE gently parted ways with life at the age of 95 on October 5, 2024 in Glen Mills, PA. His peaceful passage was attended by loving family members with their hands over his heart.

Born on the southeast coast of Taiwan, Mark was the first person from his rural hometown to pass the exam to attend middle school and left home unaccompanied at the age of 12 to pursue his education in Taipei. He completed his undergraduate degree at National Taiwan University, immigrated to the United States in 1956, and completed doctoral and postdoctoral studies in organic chemistry at Duquesne University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and Johns Hopkins University. He joined E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company at the Experimental Station in 1963. Over the course of his career, he worked in Polymers, Elastomers, and Wire and Cable. For years, he traveled around the world for DuPont, sending scores of treasured postcards home to his wife and daughters. He held numerous patents when he retired, including one for adhesive that made the production of modern sneakers possible. In his retirement, he combined his expertise in languages and chemistry as a specialized translator.

Mark met his beloved wife Jean Gallagher in New York City and they married in 1967, months after Loving vs. Virginia made their union legal in all fifty states. Both a rigorously analytic scientist and a total romantic, Mark professed a belief in the power of fate and predestination. He often marveled that his chances of meeting Jean, who was born “ten years and half a world apart” from him, were “one in infinity-minus-one.”

Raised speaking both Taiwanese and Japanese, Mark was an adventurous polyglot. His elegant locution and enculturation made him an ideal ambassador for visiting Japanese businessmen at DuPont, and upon retirement, an award-winning published tanka poet.

Mark was a member of the American Chemical Society, American Translators Association, the parish of St. Mary Magdalene and the DuPont Country Club, where he enjoyed playing tennis and poker. His favorite times were spent with his beloved family, from judo matches that spanned three generations to showering his grandkids with treats from the Asian market while he made his famous “low tide” ramen with sardines, seaweed, and sometimes hot dogs.

Mark remained a scientist throughout his retirement, from collecting and analyzing copious data on the squirrels in his yard to explaining the chemical structure of slime to his grandkids at Christmas. In his later years, he shared his poetry as well as the details of his colorful, truly extraordinary family history with his fascinated daughters and grandchildren. When he talked about his life, he did so with a sense of gratitude and amazement.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 57 years, Jean; his daughter Beth (husband Charlie) and grandchildren Lucia and Francesca; his daughter Mary (spouse Michael); brothers Tom and Kueison; and sisters Tama and Shirley. He is predeceased by his sisters Aiheki and Mie and brothers Toshiaki, Yumei, Keimei, Masabo, and Shinko.

He was deeply loved and appreciated by his family and friends, and he will be forever missed.

A visitation will be held on Monday, November 18, 2024 beginning at 10:00 AM at Chandler Funeral Home, 2506 Concord Pike Wilmington, DE 19803. A Celebration of Life will follow at 11:00 AM. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the ATAYAL organization (indigenousbridges.org) or the American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org).