Lasting Memories

Alexander Tseng Jr.
Aug. 10, 1951-July 10, 2006
Palo Alto, California

Dr. Alexander Tseng, Jr., 54, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died in his home July 10, 2006, of brain cancer.

Born Aug. 10, 1951, in Harvey, Ill., he was the first child of Martha and Alexander Tseng. In 1963, he moved from Rochester, N.Y., to Palo Alto, where he lived most of his life and attended Jordan Middle School and Palo Alto High School. He later earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a medical degree from the University of Chicago's Pritzer School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center in 1980, where he met and married his wife, Cynthia Tolles Tseng, a registered nurse and researcher. Committed to research and education, he held a number of positions, including instructor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center, clinic head at UCSF's Head and Neck Oncology Clinic and staff physician at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital in the Division of Oncology. He established a private practice before joining the Southbay Oncology Hematology Partners in 1993, where he worked until he retired due to illness in 2004.

A noted lecturer and contributing author of more than 20 published manuscripts and 30 abstracts, he also served on the editorial board of a variety of scholarly journals. Among his many honors and awards, he received the Ambroglia Research Award, American Cancer Society's Career Development Award and the UCSF AIDS Clinical Research Center Award.

In addition, he pursued a lifelong musical interest by playing the trombone and was in several bands, including a Palo Alto Dixieland band and the Stanford Marching Band. He also loved to snow ski, hike and travel.

He is survived by his wife, Cynthia; three children, Michael Alexander Tseng, Jocelyn Marie Tseng and Peter Andrew Tseng; brother, Dr. Gregory Tseng, sister-in-law, Sue, and their children, Matthew and Katie; sister, Teresa, and brother-in-law, Dr. Wallace Welder, and their children Eric, Scott and Hope.

He is also survived by his father Alexander and mother Martha Tseng of Palo Alto; and parents-in-law E. Leroy and Martha Tolles of San Marino.