Dr. Chen Ho Chen, 87, of Sioux Falls (formerly of Brookings) passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with lymphoma on Sunday, July 30, 2017 at Avera Prince of Peace Nursing Home.

Chen Ho Chen, an only child, was born to Tung-Ho Chen and Jane-Ou Ku on November 9, 1929 in Jiangsu, China.  His birth certificate erroneously stated September 9, to which he often joked having both “official” and “real” birthday.  He attended college in Taipei, Taiwan, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy from National Taiwan University in 1954.  There he met his future wife Jane Ru Po.  They were engaged in 1958 before Chen left for Louisiana State University to begin graduate studies.  After receiving his M.S. in Agronomy at LSU in 1960, Chen moved to Brookings to attend South Dakota State University pursuing a Ph.D. in Plant Science.  In that same year, he and Jane were married in Lake Benton, Minn.  In 1964, their first daughter Winnie was born, and Chen received his Ph.D. in Plant Science.  They moved to Downers Grove, Ill., while Chen completed his post-doctoral fellowship in biological/medical research at Argonne National Laboratory.

The young family moved to Hong Kong for three years while Chen held a Department Head position in the Biology Department at Hong Kong Baptist College.  In 1968, they returned to Brookings where Chen Ho joined the faculty in the Biology Department at SDSU.  A second daughter Frankie was born that year as well.  Their third daughter Judie was born in 1972.  Chen enjoyed taking the family on annual summer road trips while he attended research conferences nationwide.  During his tenure as a professor at SDSU, he touched the lives of so many undergraduate and graduate students.  Foremost, he was a great advocate for international students.  It was not unusual to have extra guests at the table to celebrate special holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.  These students were all welcome at his daughters’ weddings, as well. 

Dr. Chen was a member of the Botanical Society of America, South Dakota Academy of Science, Tissue Culture Association, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, to name a few.  He was a faculty advisor to both the SDSU Chinese Student Association and Tai-chi Club.  In addition to advising undergraduate students, he guided thesis research for both M.S. and Ph.D. students.  From 1953 to 1994, he published over 60 research projects.  He received a Burlington National Foundation Award in 1987 for excellence in scholarship.  On several occasions, he was a visiting scientist to National Taiwan University and Beijing University.

Upon his retirement from SDSU in 1999, Chen and Jane moved to Sioux Falls to be near their grandchildren.  They had the opportunity to follow many of their grandchildren’s activities such as gymnastics, dance, piano, soccer, basketball, baseball, drum line, orchestra and band.  

They loved to plant vegetables and flowers in their many gardens at both their home and Lake Campbell.  After Jane passed away in 2013, Chen spent time volunteering at the Sertoma Butterfly House.  He enjoyed meeting people who visited from all over the U.S. and other countries.  He delighted in chatting with everyone.  Being the educator that he was, nothing made Chen more proud than to witness the graduation ceremonies of his daughters and grandchildren.  He will be smiling down at each one of these events to come.

Chen is survived by his three daughters: Winnie Behrend (Robert), Sioux Falls, Frankie Chen, Sioux Falls, Judie Chen (Sanjay Singh), Redondo Beach, Calif.; six grandchildren, Alexandra, Christopher and Ethan Behrend, Sydney and Blaire Torgrude and Connor Singh.  He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Jane and son-in-law Grant Stahl. 

Visitation will held at Heritage Funeral Home on Monday, August 7, 2017 with the family present from 5 to 7 pm.  A memorial service will be held at Central Church on Tuesday, Aug. 8 at 11 a.m.

The family would like to thank all those individuals at Sanford, Avera and Prince of Peace who have been involved in the care of their father and grandfather.

The family requests memorials are directed to either the SDSU Foundation – Dr. Chen Ho and Jane Chen Scholarship in Biology/Microbiology or the Sertoma Butterfly House. www.heritagesfsd.com.