Sam passed away peacefully at Yee Hong Hospice in Scarborough surrounded by his loving family, after a valiant battle with cancer.

Born in India, he was eight years old when he immigrated to Canada, using his legal Chinese name Yung Hsing. His helpful cousin Michael recommended the adoption of an English name and suggested “Sam” – easy to spell for an immigrant kid.

Many years ago, when his parents’ washing machine broke down, young Sam came to the rescue. He took it apart and examined the pieces. Even as a little boy, he wanted to understand how things worked. Once he figured it out, he could then make the necessary repairs, often to the relief of other less mechanically inclined relatives.

That curiosity shaped his education. Sam studied mechanical engineering at Seneca College and computer science at the University of Toronto. He enjoyed a successful career with a number of high tech companies including, most recently, Qualcomm, making many friends along the way.

His line of work aligned with his inner nerd (although he bristled at being called a geek because, in his mind, he was cool). Sam was an early adopter of technology. Cell phones so big and bulky they were mistaken for cordless phones intended for home use. Sam engineered a first generation DIY GPS device using a Pocket PC (now long obsolete) and ingenuity. So what if it didn’t actually work very well, it was still an A for effort!

Sam was a devoted husband to Patsy for 22 years. Although he preferred Star Trek, fantasy and science fiction -- for Patsy -- he sat through experimental Shakespeare, Broadway musicals and foreign movies with subtitles.

He never begrudged Patsy’s ridiculously large boot collection and instead built custom shelving to gently house what some other husbands might describe as a giant waste of money.

Sam was a loving father to Lili and Matthew. The best of him - quiet strength, kindness and compassion - endure in his children. Sam made Lili a cover girl in the Toronto Star’s Babies 2001 pullout section, motivated by a fascination with his first born child and with emerging digital camera technology. There are hours and hours of video footage of Lili being 100 percent boring. By the time Matthew arrived, as with many neglected second borns, Sam’s passion for capturing his kids’ every tiresome move had thankfully waned. In any case, Matthew did inherit his dad’s love of all things computers.

The family enjoyed many vacations over the years including luxury train travel through the scenic Canadian Rockies (although Sam observed that “when you’ve seen one Rocky, you’ve seen them all”), a deluxe Disney cruise to Florida (when the kids returned thinking every meal offered a “meat course”), as well as the crumbly black sand beaches of Iceland (where Sam devoured his “best sandwich ever” in the fresh Icelandic air). In 2018, Sam encouraged Patsy – as he often did -- to “forget about the kids” and the two took a dream trip to China. Maybe it was Patsy’s dream more than Sam’s – he really wasn’t that excited by Chairman Mao. But Sam existed to make his family happy.

Sam’s cancer diagnosis in 2019 was devastating. He fought courageously against this horrific disease with determination, grace and humour. Never once did he question the injustice of it all. He simply soldiered on, made the most of the time that remained and reminded everyone to always be thankful for the “good times”.

Without a doubt, there were so many “good times” with Sam.

Sam leaves behind his heartbroken wife Patsy and their children Lili and Matthew; father Mei Yuan (predeceased by mother Kin Jen); sister Jye Ling (Kuo Chuan and Selena Liu); father-in-law Lu Shing Lee (predeceased by mother-in-law Hsien Ying); sister-in-law Brenda Lee (Daniel, Justin and Olivia Wong) as well as other extended family.

Due to COVID restrictions, there will be limited visitation by invitation only, and a private family burial. Online condolences and memories can be shared at www.etouch.ca.

Please consider donations in Sam’s name to these organizations that have been so caring and helpful throughout the family’s journey: Yee Hong Hospice, Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities or North York General Foundation.