Stephen Blase Young - Obituary

Stephen Blase Young, husband, father and brother, passed away peacefully on December 16, 2024 in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. Stephen received a Ph.D. in English Literature and History from Harvard University in 1978, and worked for 4 years in Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China in the 1980s. During that period, he established one of the most successful intensive English training programs in China that prepared mid-career Chinese scholars (mostly scientists and engineers) to study in the US or European academic institutions. His curriculum was so successful that it was published in China as a textbook and was adopted by other English training programs in China. He left a lasting impression with many Chinese people that he worked with, to the extent that four decades later they can still remember vividly the time he spent with them. He was truly a friendship ambassador of the United States. Upon returning to the US in 1987 Stephen worked in high tech companies for over 20 years and retired in 2010 due to Parkinson’s Disease. He will always be remembered by his family and friends as a warm, considerate person with great enthusiasm for life, boundless energy, unmatched vocabulary and limitless knowledge of historical anecdotes.