Jin Chen

Jin Chen, died accidentally while at work, on January 27, 2009. Jin was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China on January 3, 1987. Immigrating to the Detroit area with his parents in 1996, Jin quickly learned English and went on to exceptional academic and athletic success. He attended Riverview High School in Riverview, Michigan, where he was captain of the soccer, track, and swim teams. He graduated as class valedictorian in 2004. The Detroit Free Press named Jin as one of Michigan's top ten high school scholar athletes for 2004. Jin went on to attend University of Michigan, where he received a degree in Computer Engineering in spring 2008. Having completed a very successful internship at Microsoft in summer 2007, Jin accepted Microsoft's offer to become a full time permanent Program Manager in the Office Localizability Group after college. He quickly became a high valued, indispensable member of his Microsoft team. Jin is an nationally ranked and internationally recognized competitor in the Asian game of Go, he represented the United States at the World Student Oza Championship in 2007, where he finished 9th. In addition to competing at Go, Jin was an extremely popular and generous teacher of the game. He will be especially missed by students at the American Go Association summer go camps, where he taught for four years. A memorial for Jin, attended by his Microsoft colleagues and members of the Seattle Go community, was held at Jin's workplace on the Microsoft campus on January 29, 2009. A family memorial was held in Trenton Michigan on February 7, 2009. Jin is survived by his parents Lichun Lai, and Shan Chen of Riverview, Michigan, by his extended family members and close friends around the world. ================ A Message from Jin's Parents: Dear family members, friends, From midnight 01-26-2009 to today, so many had been in great sadness with us. Acompanied by our friend Curt Crysler, we took an immediate trip to Seattle from 01-27 to 01-29-2009. We received timely support from Jin's company family Microsoft, the King County, the Seattle Go Club friends, and everyone we met. We were able to see Jin the last time, and visited the places he worked, lived, and the place he left, and watched many times the building top security video recording on his last minutes. We have to acknowledge sadly that Jin is gone. Microsoft had a special Memorial on 01-29-2009. A letter from us to Jin was delivered to everyone at the Memorial, here below is a copy of the letter. Please help us pass it to everyone you know who knew Jin. We are now back home with even greater love to Jin. Best wishes, Lally/Koralo The Following is a letter that was written by Jin's parents on 01-29-2009: Dear Son, On 01-26-2009, you spent time to salute many family members for the Chinese New Year greetings and to friends who had birthdays. In the evening you had some bright new ideas to be thought out for your work. The idea was so bright you felt the need to work outside your apartment in the Sunday evening . You went to the highest beautiful company workplace, you were thinking while taking the elevators, and worked for hours at the high office Eurest Caf. You needed a break to fresh up for continuing the brain storming, you went outside to the high beach and lied down by the edge of it, you were brave and relaxing, lying down on the high and refreshing, not aware the danger of the edge, a unpredicted midnight storm suddenly came and took you away. You died at company's workplace when having a break during work. You did great jobs during your short time at Microsoft, just last week you created a well done presentation, and you were always focusing on better and creative. You were a great person all the time during your 22 years of life, at home, in schools, at work, among people... The accident was powerful to take away your life, but you are a so great person, all your lived are with us fresh forever. All are so bright, so positive. Today, we are to travel back home, we will plan to set a foundation in your name, and will collect our mememories into a book in the future. We invite all who knew you to join us in these projects, and remember you in the way you wanted. Rest in peace, dear son, you always wished the beast to us and your family members, co-workers, and friends. We will remember you and carry on your soul for the rest of our lives. Mom and Dad 01-29-2009 Seattle Follow this link to the website that was arranged by Microsoft as a tribute to Jin. A Tribute To Jin Chen