Andrew A. Soong

Andrew An-Hwa Soong 宋安華, 94, passed away on March 25, 2026 surrounded by his family. Born in Shanghai, China, he was the eldest son of the late Shu-Qiao Soong 宋述樵 and late Lan-Sheng Huang 黃蘭生. He grew up in a rural village outside Chongqing in Southwest China. As a kid, he didn’t have much–no electricity or running water, only oil lamps and marked-up textbooks. Food and medicine were in short supply during World War II and the Japanese invasion of China. His family of six had to seek shelter in caves from Japanese bomber planes and his neighbor’s home was smashed to rubble. When he was ten, he was a good kite maker using thin bamboo sticks, rice paper, thread and paste to form the Chinese character 王, which means “king.” After World War II ended, Andrew’s life was again upended during the Communist Revolution and in 1949, he fled with his family to Taipei. In Taiwan, he studied electrical engineering at Tainan Technical College, where he played on a basketball team named Team Thunder 雷霆. In 1956, he traveled to the United States on an ore-bearing freighter ship, S.S. Hai Huang. He and his friends convinced the captain to let them off at a stop in Yokohama, Japan where he bought his first camera and his love of photography started to take root. When they landed at night in Oakland, California, he could not fathom why so many city lights were left on, illuminating the shore. The first night, he stayed with another student at a host family’s house on a pull-out couch. The next morning, their hosts asked what they did with the mattress. Unfamiliar with the set-up they said they had rolled it up in the closet! Andrew first earned a Master’s Degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State, where he could buy coffee for a nickel at a diner with his friends. He bought a car, a 1962 Chevy Buick Special, followed by many more cars, which he often gifted to family members when he was ready for another car. In New York, he met Esther Shen 沈錦國, who was studying at Marymount College, and they got married in 1964. They lived in the Bronx and he earned a PhD in electrical engineering from New York University. In 1977, Andrew accepted his dream job offer from Bell Labs, later AT&T, where he worked for twenty-plus years, was awarded multiple patents and in the later years, taught cell phone technology. He and his family moved to New Jersey where he was the principal of the Monmouth Chinese school, enjoyed taking his daughter Jennifer to the park to fly kites and worked hard to keep the native deer population from eating his newly planted trees and shrubs. After retirement, he worked on a new way of translating the Chinese language into code and was the co-inventor of a new programming language which he presented at a conference in China. Andrew had a wonderful sense of humor, a sharp mind and a zest for life. At any party, he would inevitably make a new friend and have a lively conversation. He was known for having strong opinions and many varied interests from photography, collecting many cameras and lenses, to tai chi. He was a loyal viewer of Jeopardy! and instructed everyone not to disturb him in the evenings at 7pm. He believed in the health benefits of olive oil and consumed it daily, touting it as one of “his secrets to becoming a super-ager.” He also greatly enjoyed eating soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung in New York City. Andrew had many friends and made it a point to keep in touch with his classmates near and far. He and his Team Thunder teammates, who he remained close with for six decades, attended their 60th college reunion together in Tainan. After retirement, he organized a lunch club for retired engineers called Young @ Heart. One time, much to the group’s delight, a sign greeted them at the entrance of the cafe: “Welcome, Young and Hot!” He would send out an update on his recent activities where the subject line was “News from Ocean Soongebon” and he would sign off his dispatches with own take on the Lake Wobegon update from Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show: “That's all the news from Ocean Soongebon where all women are exotic, all men neurotic and children extremely rare.” At Seabrook, he greatly enjoyed dining with friends, especially during the first week of the month, when filet mignon was the special on the menu. He loved playing Rummi-Kub and Mahjong with friends, going to movies and attending lectures. He organized Chinese New Year luncheons and was known in the community as a sharp dresser with his brightly colored silk shirts. At his daughter Jennifer’s wedding, Andrew gave a memorable toast where he read an Irish blessing “May the road rise to meet you” first in Chinese and then in English to roaring applause. This blessing, which he kept by his bedside, gave him comfort in his last days. He is survived by his wife of 61 years Esther Soong 沈錦國, his daughter Jennifer Soong 宋文美 and her husband Philip Peters and his grandchildren Owen 宋泰星 and Zoe 宋麗晶 Peters; his brother Sean An-Liang Soong 宋安良 and his wife Jean Soong 何潔愛; his nephews Chris 宋文中 and Tony 宋文夏 Soong; his nephews Howard 龎厚方, Arthur 龐厚元and Herman 龐厚中 Pang and his nieces Carol 李韻嘉 and Olivia 李奧黎 Lee. He was the brother of the late Dan-Li Soong 宋丹麗 and late Grace Man-Chen Lee 宋曼貞. There will be a viewing held on Saturday, March 28, 2026 from 11am-1pm at Bongarzone Funeral Home, 2400 Shafto Road, Tinton Falls, NJ. In lieu of flowers, please plant a tree or make a memorial donation in Andy’s memory to the Audubon Society. https://act.audubon.org/a/donate

Andrew A. Soong

May 14, 1931 - March 25, 2026