Remembrances or condolences for Dr Wenbo V. Li

Nayantara Bhatnagar

My deepest condolences to Sunny and Jimmy. Though we didn't get a chance to meet, Wenbo would mention you often in conversation.

Wenbo welcomed me to the department at UD and the probability group and was always available for a chat or some advice. He would speak about math in general or the problems he was working on with a wonderful enthusiasm and excitement. I am very saddened that he left us so early.

Xuling

I met Wenbo in 1986 since we were dating girls who are best friends. He is romantic, cool and handsome that God did not give to me. We exchanged ideas to surprise our girls who became our wives. Our families got together often, we laugh things happened in the past.
Quotation from Unknown Author:
"There are
things that we don't want to happen
but have to accept,
things we don't want to know
but have to learn,
and people we can't live without
but have to let go."

Frank Gao

My sorrow is negligible compared with that of Sunny
Who just lost her wonderful husband and life companion
My sorrow is negligible compared with that of Jimmy
Who just lost his dearest father and best friend
My sorrow is negligible compared with that of his aged parents
Who had already suffered the loss of their only other son
Indeed, my sorrow is much lighter
Because it is shared by his many friends
From USA to China to Germany to Russia , all over the world
Yet, the sorrow is still too heavy for my heart to hold
As Xia and Yimin were sobbing at the other end of the phone line
And Qiman mourning in Hongkong,
I finally burst into tears and cry---
No! Wenbo, you cannot leave now!

I had planned to visit you in March
And at your invitation, I will attend the Chengdu conference in June
We just had some many things planned
You see, last night I was still working on your conjecture on a Gaussian inequality

I remember you attracted me into the wonderful world of small ball when my son asked me how small a small ball is while playing with his snow ball
I know you enjoy wine, and I often persuade you to drink less
But tonight, I will buy you a bottle of Maotai
And with a piece of napkin, we will discuss the small ball of Brownian sheet

But, you have already left
You have gone forever
For the door of heaven is designed in such a way that
Once you enter it, you are not allowed to come back
I know you are enjoying all the wonderful peace in heaven
But I just miss your smile

In March when the soil gets warmer
I will plant all the vegetable seeds you mailed to me
As you see red-hearted Harbin turnips growing in our garden
I know you will be smiling in heaven

Zhonggen Su

I am extremely shocked by sudden passing of Wenbo. Two weeks ago we were discussing by email his visit schedule to Hangzhou as a Zhejiang university foreign expert project in 2013.
I got to know Wenbo by reading his articles as early as in the beginning of the ninties, and first met him in Princeton's seminar on stochastic processes in 2002 spring. I remeber that we stayed till the early morning in his house, discussing, laughing and drinking. We talked about that night to mathematical research, probability problems, friends and colleagues. He just got promotion to full profesorship before I visited him at Delaware.
Wenbo visited Hangzhou many times, we really benefitted a lot from his wonderful speeches and discussion. I am looking forward to his next visit, but... Now I miss Wenbo.
My deepest condolence to his family.

Zhonggen Su

Michael Cranston

My sincerest condolences to Sunny, Jamie and the LI family. I'm very saddened by the passing of Wenbo and will miss him. We've know each other for years. I was fortunate to see him two weeks ago at the IMA in Minnesota. He told me then, with obvious pride, that Jamie had graduated and was now working for Boeing in LA. On my last day there Wenbo told me he had found a great Korean restaurant and suggested we go for lunch. Wenbo had a Korean soup that was rich red with spice. I asked if it was too hot and he said no, that it was just fine. I think that's how he took life, full of gusto. Later he and Davar K. and I enjoyed a coffee and conversation in the fading light of a winter afternoon. These will be my last memories of him. He made a tremendous intellectual contribution to mathematics and his sincerity, warmth and generosity enriched the lives of many.

Sa-Han Jang

I am so sad that Prof. Li is no more with us.

I remember him as an animated and passionate teacher in class. His energetic voice and bits of valuable anecdotes he told his students would be dearly missed.

Prof. Li was one of the members of my doctoral thesis committee. He was glad to see the theory relevant to his own research area used by a physicist.

He will be remembered for a long while. My deepest condolences to his family.

Xinghua Zheng & Yingying Li

We first met Wenbo in 2008 in the SSP conference in Delaware. Later on we met him in different occasions, and became acquainted with each other. The last time we met was in Jan 2012 when he visited us and gave a very inspiring seminar here. We had so much laughter when we talked wildly about math, life, sports etc at the dinner, and he spoke proudly of his son --- his ``best proof of existence''. It was such an enjoyable evening that we still remember vividly.

Wenbo is keen on promoting young researchers. During conferences he talked a lot to junior people. As an organizer of many conferences he also invited young researchers like us to give talks. In the past few months we had been talking about a conference in St Petersburg. He told us that he enjoyed his past visit there very much and he could be our guide if we want a tour. Wenbo had also been discussing with us his possible visit in the coming academic year when he'll be on sabbatical leave. We're so sad that this visit is never happening!

We're very sad to lose a great mentor and a dear friend. May Wenbo rest in peace! And our deepest condolence to his family!

Zhaohui Qin

I still can not believe this is real. I first met Prof. Li during my visit to Udel in early 2010. I really enjoyed talking to him. We last met at the Banf conference in December 2011. As Annie mentioned, a group of us are very close during the meeting, we hiked together, dine together and hang out together. He is so full of life. I remember him as a sharp mind, knowledgeable and energetic. He is a avid skier and hiker, full of energy. he is extremely friendly and kind, a natural leader among his friends and people around him. I will miss Prof. Li deeply.

My deepest condolences to his family.

Ruoting Gong

I first met Prof. Li in the Northeast Probability Seminar in November 2007. He was a so inspiring and enthusiastic mathematician. It was a great fun to talk with him, and I learned a lot from our discussions. Until now I still cannot believe this sad news.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Anita Tarzian

My husband Jim Fill had the fortune of traveling to China this past summer for a conference that he and Wenbo attended. Jim returned with many stories about the trip, most of them including Wenbo ... what a gracious host he was ... what a great hike he took them on ... what good company he is ... what a dedicated mathematician and scholar he is. We are both deeply saddened by this tremendous loss. I have Sunny and Jamie and the rest of Wenbo's family, Wenbo's students and colleagues, and the university in my best thoughts.

Michael Marcus

Wenbo was an excellent mathematician. His ideas were inventive and his thinking original and refreshing. He was also a charming friendly man. I spent a lot of time with him over the many years of our friendship and was always renewed by his enthusiasm hand warmth. I miss him already.

My deepest condolences to his wife and son.

Uwe Einmahl

This is very sad. I have known Wenbo for more than 20 year. I met him first when he came to IU in 1989 still as graduate student to see his advisor. Since then we regulary met at conferences and we also several times at Delaware after he joined the math department there. It was always great to see him - both personally and also for mathematical discussion- and it is very sad that he left us. We will miss him. My condolences to his wife and his son.

Betty Walls

I will always think of and remember the smile that Wenbo gave as he greeted you. I will miss him in the Math Dept. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and to all that work in the Math Dept.

Yanxia Ren

I am shocked by the sad news. Wenbo Li visited Peking University for many times. Especially in 2008, he gave a series of lectures in our summer school. Wenbo and I co-supervised one PHD student, Weijun Chu (now a faculty of Nanjing University). I am benefitted a lot from the experiences of working together. Wenbo Li is very like to talk small value probability, and he fund a starting point of combining the small value probability with branching process. Today I got galley proofs of our joint paper to be published in Bernoulli. It is sad that we are checking the proofs without Wenbo.

The probability group at Peking University including myself will remember Wenbo Li. Our deepest condolence to his families!

Michele Schwander

Wenbo was a kind and thoughtful man, my sympathies to his family and to the UD community.

Amarjit Budhiraja

I am very saddened by this news. My condolences to Wenbo's family.

Jorgen Hoffmann_Jorgensen

It was with great sadness, that I learned that Wenbo has passed away. He was a great friend and a superb mathematician. I send my sincerely condolences to his family.

Charles El-Nouty

My deepest codolences to Wenbo's family.
It is a very sad and incredible new. I met Wenbo in 1996, when I was visiting Delaware University. Since this period, I have been in contact with him.
Au revoir, l'Ami.

Sen Hu

It was a shock to learn that Wenbo passed away. He offered great help to the S. T. Yau College Mathematics Contests last year. His help shall be remembered by his colleagues and many students from China.

My deepest condolences to Professor Li's family.

Thomas Kühn

I met Wenbo for the first time in 2002 in Oberwolfach, and since then we have been in contact. Our last meeting was in summer 2012 in Huntsville (Alabama) where he gave a series of inspiring lectures. A few weeks ago we made plans for another stay at Oberwolfach, during his sabbatical in autumn 2013. It is hard to believe that Wenbo is no longer among us.
Wenbo was so full of live and love for mathematics. He had the rare ability - based on deep understanding - to make difficult problems looking transparent and simple. He had always many plans, and he generously shared his ideas. It was a great pleasure to work together with him, but also a challenge, since he was thinking faster than most of us. His premature death is a great loss for all who knew him. I will always keep him in my memory.
I express my deepest condolence to his wife and his son. My thoughts are with you.

Vlad Vysotsky

I knew Wenbo as his postdoc who spent two years at Delaware, with my office located just next door from his. This visit started with Wenbo and Sunny hosting me in their house for the first few days until I found a place to rent.

Wenbo was always full of energy, sparkling with ideas and had ``so many things to do’’ as he used to say, that I barely understood how he managed to do them all together and at the same time. His passion to probability was so contagious and inspired everyone around. I learned a lot from Wenbo and benefitted many from his wisdom, advice and experience.

He planned an extended visit to St. Petersburg in June, and happily wrote us about his tickets reserved just a couple of weeks ago… With all the sadness, my deep condolence to Sunny and Jamie.

Lixin Zhang

When I was a PhD student twenty years ago, I begun to know Wenbo from his articles on small ball probabilities. His articles gave me a deep impress that he always gives a simple but very thoughtful solution to a difficult problem. Wenbo visited Zhejiang University many times. My colleagues and I benefitted a lot from his talk and the discussion with him during each of his visits. Wenbo was always energetic and enthusiastic. He generously offered us many advice and help on the developments of probability and statistics at Zhejiang University. He planned to visit our university again this summer. I am shocked to hear this sad news. I will remember him. My deepest condolences to Prof. Li's family.

Zhenzhong Zhang

My deepest condolences goes to Wenbo's family and friends.

Annie Qu

I met Wenbo during Banff workshop on machine learning and data mining in Dec. 2011. Wenbo immediately became the center of our group, he loves people, and so full of life, so athletic, took care of us on outdoor activities. We played cards in the evening, had such good time. He is so passionate about research, and loved skiing on the mountains. We will miss you, Wenbo. Our condolence to Wenbo's family.

Mikhail Lifshits

About twenty years ago I was reading an impressive article. It was so easy to imagine between the lines the unknown author - young, enthusiastic, inventive, and knowledgeable. So, when we really met, from the first "hi!" it was like we were old buddies for years (many would say the same).
I will remember Wenbo always moving forward - to something new and unknown.