An Wang - Later Years

Later Years

An Wang also founded the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts which offered a graduate program in software engineering. He made substantial donations to this organization, including the proceeds of his autobiography, Lessons. However, enrollment remained low, and in 1987, after nearly a decade of operation, Dr. Wang decided to discontinue funding the institution and transferred ownership of the campus to Boston University.

An Wang also made a substantial contribution for the restoration of a Boston landmark, which was then called the Metropolitan Theatre. The "Met" was renamed in 1983 as The Wang Theatre, and the Metropolitan Center became known as the Wang Center for the Performing Arts.

When An Wang died of cancer in 1990 he left behind an impressive technical and philanthropic legacy. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1988. The Dr. An Wang Middle School in Lowell, Massachusetts is named in his honor, as is the An Wang Professorship of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Harvard University, held by Professor Roger W. Brockett.

He and his wife Loraine lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts where she still lives. Their three children are:

• Frederick Wang - oldest son and now a mentor and founder of Wang and Associates; he lives in Cambridge, MA
• Courtney S. Wang - younger son, President of a Dallas-area regional ISP Online Today OnLine Today
• Juliet Wang - an EMT