Dr. Philip Liu

Dr. Philip Liu, of Quincy, Massachusetts, and Honolulu, Hawaii, passed away on September 20, 2014.  He was born on June 19, 1941 to the late Dr. Arthur F. S. Liu and Rose Lee Liu in New York City.  He graduated from Trinity School in New York City, Brown University, and the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

In January 1962, after finishing his requirements for graduation at Brown, Phil visited his grandmother in Hawaii.  It was there that he met the love of his life, Letty.  Phil and Letty celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past August.

Phil was an intern at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii, and an anesthesia resident and National Institutes of Health research fellow at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.   After his fellowship, Phil served in the United States Navy at St. Albans Hospital in Queens, NY.  He was honorably discharged in 1972 as a Lieutenant Commander and then joined the faculty of the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University.  Shortly thereafter, he and Letty moved to Honolulu, Hawaii.   New England, however, was beckoning.  After two years of private practice, Phil and Letty moved to Boston where they joined the Department of Anesthesiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  Five years later, Phil moved to the Peter Brigham Hospital (now the Brigham and Women’s Hospital).  While most of his career was spent at Harvard Medical School, he also spent some years as Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at New Jersey Medical School (now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School).  Phil started his career doing scientific research in the laboratory, but his passion was anesthesia education.  He was well recognized for his work both nationally and internationally and was an active member of many organizations, including the Society for Education in Anesthesia which he founded in 1984 , the American Society of Anesthesiology where he introduced and created the first Problem-Based Learning Discussion Program (PBLD) for their annual meetings, and the American Association of Medical Colleges where he served on administrative board of the Council of Academic Societies.  Phil received several awards and prizes throughout his career.  He was the first recipient of the SEA/Duke Award for Excellence and Innovation in Anesthesia Education (1997) and an honorary member of the Chinese American Society of Anesthesiology.

After retiring, Phil split time between Boston and Honolulu, where he enjoyed daily swims.  He was an avid watcher of the stock market and enjoyed spending time with family, particularly his sister-in-law, Dr. Leila Mei Pang, and her daughters, Dr. Lani Mei Lee and Lila Mei Lee.   This summer Phil and Letty journeyed to Europe and Russia.

Surviving Dr. Philip Liu are his wife, Dr. Letty Mei Pang Liu, and two brothers, David Russell Liu and his wife Karen Chang Liu (Brooklyn, New York) and their children Randall and Todd Liu, and Allan J. Liu and his wife Shirley Liu (Yorktown Heights, NY) and their children, Gregory, Scott, Lorraine Liu Bosley and her children, Rebecca and Christopher Bosley, and Russell Liu.

A memorial service will be held at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (7 W. 55th St., New York, NY) on Sunday, October 5, 2014, at 3:00 PM.  Interment will take place at a later date in Honolulu, Hawaii.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a tax deductible contribution be made to: Dr. Philip Liu Fund for Medical Education, c/o Hawaii Community Foundation, 827 Fort Street Mall, Honolulu, HI 96813