Dr. Chung Won Cho
February 7, 1931 to February 1, 2022
Obituary
Cho (to his friends) passed away peacefully at Tiffany Village with family by his side on February 1st, 2022, age 90 years. Predeceased by son, Arnold, brother, CW, brother-in-law, Frank and sister-in-law, Isabel. Survived by his wife of 63 years, Joyce; children and grandson, Carolyn (Craig), Rosalyne (Joost), and Lucas; brother-in-law and sisters-in-law Tom, Sook Hi and Jean; nieces and nephews and their children, Yoon Hi (Alan; Jennifer, Nathan (Lydia), Jillian), John (Mary Ann; Albert), Beata, Bob (daughter Melissa), David (Cheryl; Ben, Alex), Anne (Erik; Anika), Matthew, and Jeffrey (Christine; Juliana, Makayla).
Born in Seoul, Korea, Cho was one of the first Korean graduate students to choose to study in Canada, immigrating in 1953 to study physics at the University of Toronto. He and Joyce arrived in St. John’s in 1958 to begin a long service to Memorial University – one of the Parade Street Veterans – where he touched the lives of many students. He served as physics department head, and cultural liaison on a Newfoundland-Asian trade delegation with Premier Clyde Wells. He was appointed Professor Emeritus in 1997, remaining active with the Canadian Ethnocultural Council and president of the Canadian Korean association. Thank you to the Tiffany Village staff for all they do.
Cremation has taken place. Funeral service will be held from St. James United Church on Thursday, March 3 at 11 a.m. Please contact Jennifer at 700-6064 to register to attend the funeral service. Masks and NL VaxPasses are required. The funeral service will be livestreamed from the St. James United Church website https://www.stjamesuc.org/ for those unable to attend in person.
Schedule
funeral
11:00am, Thursday March 3rd
St. James United Church
Interment to follow in General Protestant Cemetery.
Dear Joyce, I am sad to hear this news, and my thoughts are with you. I am glad to have encountered him. A man of quiet clarity and kindness. I called him Dr Cho, out of respect; he replied to call him Cho. Though I saw him only rarely, he seemed one of those rare people, the mere knowledge of whose existence helps the world seem right.
RIP
I am very sorry to hear of the passing of Dr. Cho. During my time at Memorial University, I spent several pleasant evenings with Cho and his wife. He will be greatly missed.
Dear Joyce, Carolyn, and Rosalyne,
I was sad to learn of Cho’s passing. I got to know Cho because I inherited his office in the Physics Department, and Joyce and Cho were among the first people to invite me to their home when I moved to Newfoundland in 2001. I appreciated his hospitality then and through the years. He was a kind and friendly man and I am very sorry for your loss.
Dear Joyce and Family,
I was very saddened to read of the passing of your husband Cho. You and he were among the first people whom my late husband Cliff and I met soon after our arrival at MUN in 1977. Cho’s company at many events and gatherings was always enjoyed. I’m left with fond memories, but wish that he were still with you and your family! I send my deep sympathy and condolences.
Alberta
Dear Joyce and family:
It is a very sad day to learn that Dr. Cho has passed away. We were second and third year students when Cho joined the Physics Department at MUN in the late fifties on Parade Street. I was an Engineering student working as a student-assistant, marking papers and helping in Cho’s lab, and my girlfriend (now wife) was a student in the lab. Cho was a kind and always helpful professor, who was somewhat amused by the relationship developing under his nose. We became friends with both Cho and Joyce and value our association which has lasted for over sixty years. Our sincerest condolences, Joyce, to you and your family.
Dear Joyce, Carolyn and Rosalyne,
We are so sorry for your loss. We shall always remember Dr. Cho’s kindness. He smiled kindly at us when we first met in 1970 and in the last MUNFA meeting that we attended together. He spoke about his beloved wife and daughters. Goodbye old friend.
Dear Joyce, Carolyn, and Rosalyne,
I was so sorry to hear of Cho’s passing. The tributes on this page really underscore what I knew of him too: always a smile and always willing to stop and say hello when we passed in the hallway.
My deepest condolences.
Dear Joyce and family,
So sad to learn that Cho will no longer be with us.. He was an integral part of MUN for all who remember and helped shape the good old days of this institution.. Tonya and I have known Cho for half a century. as a friend–gentle and always good-humored–with whom we shared interests in gardening. music, art. and multicultural connections. I shall miss him.
Dear Joyce and Family:
The world has lost a gentle and kindly soul and I can but try to imagine your sense of loss. Cho always had a smile and a pleasant word when we passed in the corridors of MUN and I was not special. He did so to everyone. My heart fell when I read of his passing. He was truly a gentleman and a scholar.
Dear Joyce and family,
Our sincere condolences on the recent loss of your beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle. I had the privilege to offer some help when Joyce fell and injured herself back in 2018. I enjoyed many watercolour painting sessions with Joyce and got to meet her husband many times. May fond memories of him live on in your hearts.
Joyce, Rosalyn & Carolyn,
I was so saddened to learn of Dr. Cho’s passing.
My first meeting with Dr. Cho was in a small classroom in the Annex at the Parade Street Campus Dr. Cho eventually became my Supervisor for my Graduate Degree. I found Dr. Cho a kind, generous and very understanding person and friend, and our friendship continued to some extent after we both retired. It has been sixty years – not to be forgotten.
To Joyce and her family, I would like to extend our sincere condolences, may Dr. Cho rest in peace.
Cyril & Lorraine Snook
Even though Cho had already retired by the time I joined the Department, he was still very much a part of the fabric. I very much appreciated the opportunity to talk with him, and through him, the opportunity to meet you — Joyce, Carolyn, Rosalyne. His memory and legacy of impact will live on in all of us who knew him.
Dear Joyce, Carolyn and Rosalyne,
Please accept my deepest sympathies at the loss of your husband and father. Your friend, Joyce, my mother, Bernice Blake, always spoke very highly of Dr. Cho. She admired his quiet support of you though the many exhibitions at the Botanical Gardens and other artist’s venues. I add my admiration for Dr. Cho, too. My thoughts and prayers are with you through this difficult time.
Cathy Blake
Dear Joyce and family,
Our sincere condolences on the passing of Cho. He was a fine man who contributed much to university and community life.. My mother Nancy asked that I send condolences on her behalf as well. Our thoughts are with you all at this difficult time.
Heather Hickman and John Brattey
Dear Joyce, Carolyn and Rosalyne,
We were saddened to hear of Professor Cho’s passing! Our Friendship goes back many years and is one that has been cherished!! We have always had the greatest respect for Professor Cho in his successful career and the positive impact he had on generators of students!
We will be thinking of you all in the coming days.
With kindness. ..Dr and Mrs Dook Kim, Carey, Claire and Andrew..( Halifax,NS) .We are recalling our early years in st johns,..
Dear Joyce and Family
We just learned through Facebook of Dr Cho’s passing. and we sincerely share your great loss. During his lifelong residence in St John’s, he has been one of strong pillars for the Department of Physics and for MUN in general. We have been fortunate to know him as a colleague, seeing his children growing up through various stages.
Our thoughts are with you and your family.
To Joyce, Carolyn, Rosalyne and Families.
I am saddened to learn of Dr. Cho’s passing. Largely because of his influence, I switched my major to Physics half-way through my sophomore year, and have never regretted it. He was an inspiring teacher, a competent administrator, and a wise, warm and generous colleague.
His many contributions to Memorial University, to its Physics Department, and to the national ethno-cultural community are well known. To that can be added that he also led in building bridges between MUN Physics and the broader high-school physics-teaching community in the Province. Beyond MUN and Physics, he is also remembered from the 1960s at St. James United Church as a talented choir director.
Gail joins me in expressing gratitude for his life and in offering our condolences on his passing.
Dear Joyce and Family,
So sorry to read of Dr. Cho’s passing: a fine gentleman who will is fondly remembered and will be sadly missed.
Sincerest condolences on your loss.
Paris Georghiou
Mrs. Cho and family
Please accept our sincere condolences on the passing of Dr Cho. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this very sad time.
To Joyce and family
I became acquainted with Dr. Cho as a student at MUN from 1960 to 1966. He was my instructor for a number of undergraduate physics courses and my graduate program supervisor. Our association continued when I became a fellow member of the Physics Faculty in 1967.
I got to know him well over the years and regarded him as being a good friend, brilliant, kind, respectful, eager to help, unassuming and, as well, an excellent teacher and professor of physics. He contributed widely to the university community and was highly respected at all levels.
He has had a positive influence on my life and I’m sure on the life of many others.
Diane and I offer our sincere condolences.
Robert Bishop
Mrs. Cho – our very sincere condolences to you and your family on the death of your husband. I was a part-time secretary in the Physics Department 1961-62 (the first year on the new campus) and my husband had been a student in Math/Physics until 1961 when he came to Alberta as a grad student.. In those days the department was very close-knit and I really enjoyed my relationship with both faculty and students.
Our thoughts are with you and your family at this time.
Judith (Layman) and Harvey Abbott
As one of a small group of MUN physics students during the 1970s I got to know Dr. Cho (mostly) as the steady and dignified head of the Department. Although I had only vague ideas where a physics degree might take me, I recall Dr. Cho encouraging me (and others) to attend seminars and conferences to broaden our knowledge, to make connections, and to get a better sense of the possibilities. I also recall him showing tremendous patience with some of our youthful shenanigans. My deepest condolences to his family and friends for the loss of this wise and kindly man.
To Joyce, Carolyn and Family,
Words fail at this very sad news. The Department let us know yesterday, before the obit was out, and I’ve been thinking of this since. Our families have been friends since Cho coaxed Dad back from a DAAD scholarship in Heidelberg to continue at MUN Physics, I believe just after it had moved from Parade Street, whereupon he married Mom. If I have it right. They always thought the world of you both. It was perhaps inevitable that the elder kids on both sides would also do physics at MUN (now long ago), and so I, too, came to know “Dr. Cho” as a quasi-father figure. Whenever I’d see Cho in a Physics hallway long after this he would never waste an opportunity to ask after Mom and Dad (Wendy and Carl), always with a gentle, earnest smile. This continued throughout, at chance meetings at galleries or the NSO. Dr. Cho to me was a man of quiet, elegant integrity, who deserved the greatest respect. I know I’m not alone in saying I will never forget his kind voice. Our very deepest condolences. – Chris and Sandra
Dear Joyce and family,
Jim and I were sad to hear about the passing of Dr. Cho. We have a very fond memory being welcomed to the Department of Physics after we arrived in St. John’s in the 1990’s. Dr. Cho was a very kind and generous person. Our deepest condolences for your family’s loss.
Dearest Joyce & Family,
I am so sorry to hear of Cho’s passing. Please accept my sincere condolences. Cho was a quiet, respectful, kind and pleasant man and I am sure he will be greatly missed. May you find peace in all your lovely memories together. Take care.
Dear Joyce and family
I was saddened to hear that Cho had passed on after a long and valuable life. I first met Cho on the old Parade Street campus of MUN in 1959 and valued him and his advice for so many years as members of the Physics Department.. He made a substantial contribution to the development of the Department, the university and the local cultural community over this time.
Dear Mrs. Cho,
I am sorry to learn of Dr. Cho’s passing.. I was a student in physics in the late 60’s and had Dr. Cho for a number of courses. Despite my less than stellar academic performance (!), he was kind enough to give me a job assisting in his lab during my last summer as an udergraduate student. I remember him as being an excellent professor and a kind and helpful man. My condolences to you and your family.
Sincerely,
Robert Gill ( BSc, 1970, M.Eng., 1976, P.Eng., ret’d)
Dear Joyce and family,
I am so sorry to hear of your dear husband’s passing. So many happy memories to cherish: our children’s Suzuki days, and pleasant meetings over the years, Cho always the cheerful, quiet, constant soul. Please accept my sincere condolences. May you find peace and solace in the remembrances of your lives together.
Dear Joyce and family,
I was sad to learn of Cho’s passing. He was a colleague of great sagacity, integrity and kindness, and left an indelible mark on the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography which he served so faithfully for so many decades. His advice was sought and listened to by many who valued his wisdom, including Mose Morgan as President. Two good memories since Cho and I retired in the late 1990s: an enjoyable dinner with the two of you when Elizabeth and I met you coming in to the old Pasta Plus restaurant in Churchill Square at the same time; Cho explaining the meaning of inscriptions on things from my mother’s childhood in Korea.
With sympathy for the loss of this fine man’s companionship in your lives,
I first met Dr. Cho as a (Parade Street) undergraduate when he arrived at MUN in 1958 and was assigned to teach a third year course in mechanics. The textbook was “Principles of Mechanics” by Synge & Griffith, and I still remember his difficulties in pronouncing these two names in his newly adopted language. Together with the first small group of MSc candidates in physics at MUN I got to know him a bit better when the University moved to the new campus in the early 1960s. Since 1969 our association developed and was consolidated not only as fellow faculty members but also as collaborators during the rapidly expanding base of research in experimental physics. His contributions to the Physics Department and the University as a whole were considerable and will doubt be remembered as such. As a person I, and many others, will likewise remember him both with fondness and respect.
My wife and I extend our condolences and best wishes to his family and to those many lives he has touched over the years.
Mrs. Cho and family,
Please accept my condolences on the passing of Dr. Cho. It was my privilege and great pleasure to have known him. I was a student, graduate student, employee and colleague. Through all those relationships he was always professional and kind, and treated me and others around him with respect. His smile, whenever we met, remains with me.
Joyce and family: So sorry to hear of Cho’s passing. You and he were such friends of the Coopers and you were their favorite people! He was so kind, always pleasant and a true gentleman in every sense of the word. From his association with the university and his dealings with the community at large, his spirit will be truly missed. May God Bless and Comfort you in the days ahead as you deal with your loss.
To the family of Dr. Cho,
I am saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Cho, but at the same time I am smiling because of the pleasant memories I have of him as my first physics teacher.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Gill
MUN physics (1961–1966)
Joyce and family,
Cho’s outstanding contributions to the Physics Department, to MUN and to the community will long be remembered.. He leaves behind a legacy of dedication and service.
My deepest condolences on the passing of a true gentleman dedicated to family, and community.
Hugh Miller
Sorry to hear of Dr. Cho’s death. It was a pleasure to have gotten to know him over the years through you Mrs. Cho from coming into Spurrell Gallery. He always had a warm smile and friendly conversation and showed a deep caring for his family.
He will be missed! God Bless! Myra
Dear Joyce.. I have only lovely memories of Cho from your visits with my Uncle Corbin and Aunt Ella Noel , who I know were your great friends. You and he would always stop and have a chat with me when you were out and about. He was always very kind. I fell I know Carolyn and Rosalyn too, from stories from Ella . I know she was always delighted to see you . I’m sorry for your loss. He was truly a lovely, kind and gentle man.
An excellent professor while at MUN and a nice man in life. RIP
My sincere condolences on the loss of Dr Cho. He was such a gentle person who always had a smile on his face. May he Rest In Peace
Here is to a quiet man with a life well lived. My condolences to the extended Cho family.