A memorial service for Wen Fong, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Art History, Emeritus, and professor of art and archaeology, emeritus, and a 1951 alumnus and 1958 graduate alumnus, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, April 13, in the University Chapel.
Wen Fong
The Rev. Dr. Alison Boden, dean of religious life and the chapel, will lead the service, which will include readings, tributes and music. A luncheon for family, friends and colleagues will follow at Prospect House. RSVPs are requested.
Fong died Oct. 3, 2018. He was 88 years old.
Fong laid the foundation for the modern study of Chinese art history, producing some 15 scholarly volumes. He was instrumental in shaping the study of Asian art at Princeton, teaching graduate and undergraduate classes on Chinese art history, as well as medieval architecture.
In 1959, he and the late Professor Frederick Mote, professor of East Asian studies, emeritus, established at Princeton the nation’s first Ph.D. program in Chinese art and archaeology, and shortly afterward expanded the program to include Japanese art and archaeology. Concurrent with his contributions at Princeton, Fong served for nearly 30 years — from 1971 to 2000 — as The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first consultative chairman of the Department of Asian Art.
A full obituary appears on the University homepage, which includes a blog for colleagues, friends and family to post remembrances to honor Fong’s life and legacy. A publications fund for Chinese art history will be established at Princeton in Fong’s memory.
