Richard Sai-Leung Cheng, Our beloved husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather and friend passed away on November 7, 2019. He was born in 1939 in Shanghai, China, to Pai-An Cheng and Choy-Yung Chow. Richard was the sixth of nine children. When Richard was 10 years old, his family moved to Hong Kong, where Richard excelled in both academics and soccer.
In 1960, Richard immigrated to the United States. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1964, followed by an M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1966, both with academic honors. At Michigan, he discovered the two loves of his life: Michigan sports and the woman who would become his wife of 55 years, Mary (Yee) Cheng.
Richard’s employment took him and Mary to New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts before they settled in Minneapolis. Richard had a long career at Honeywell before retiring, only to accept another job at Datacard Corp. After retiring from Datacard, he taught computer classes at Minneapolis Community and Technical College and dabbled as a proctor for professional exams. When he finally retired from paid employment, he filled his time investing in the stock market, following the U.S. political scene, cheering for Michigan sports, traveling, and tinkering with gadgets of all kinds. He and Mary had a standing date on Tuesdays to dine at the Dairy Queen near DQ corporate headquarters (which happened to be on their way home from bowling).
Richard was deeply devoted to family and cherished time with his wife, Mary; his daughter, Michelle Cheng of Austin, Texas and her husband, Chris Quaglino; and his son, Larry Cheng of Edina; Larry’s wife, Roseanne Cheng; and their children, Anna and Aaron Cheng. Richard’s grandchildren brought him great joy, and he could frequently be found drilling them on mathematics or teaching them magic tricks at the dinner table.
At Richard’s request, there were no formal services. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to N.C. Little Memorial Hospice, 7019 Lynmar Lane, Edina, MN 55435.