Prof. Y.C. Lee Passes

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Prof. Y.C. Lee. He died on June 23, 2004 after a long battle with cancer.

Yuk-Cheung Lee, known to all as Y.C., was born on 30 March 1948. He came to UNB in 1977 after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University. He originally registered for a Master of Science (Computer Science) but in 1978 it was agreed between Computer Science (Dana Wasson) and our department (then called Surveying Engineering and under the chairmanship of Angus Hamilton) that Y. C. would do a joint degree between the two departments. He kept his registration in Computer Science, but his project was with our department. His Masters thesis was "A Topological Data Structure for Polygonal Maps." He graduated in May 1980.

In July 1979 he was officially appointed a Programmer Analyst 2 in the Department of Surveying Engineering, working with Dr. Salem (Sam) Masry. He worked full time until he started his Ph.D.

In 1981 he began his Ph.D. with the surveying engineering department (now geodesy and geomatics engineering). He was a part-time student and part-time programmer analyst with Dr. Masry. The work he did with Dr. Masry was to design and implement a digital land information system for resource mapping. His dissertation was on "Conceptual Models for Geographic Information Systems." Dr. Masry and Y.C. built a Geographic Information System that today is the basis for Dr. Masry's company, originally called Universal Systems Limited and now called CARIS. Y.C. graduated with his Ph.D. in 1987.

In September 1986, Y. C. was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Surveying Engineering. In July 1987 he was appointed an assistant professor in our Department. In July 1991 he was promoted to associate professor. He received a UNB Merit Award for 1991/92. He was granted tenure July 1992. In July 1996, he was promoted to the rank of professor.

In 1995, Y.C. received a two-year leave of absence without pay to take up a Professorship position in the Department of Land Surveying and Geoinformatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic. He felt he could take UNB's values, curriculum, and teaching ideals to the developing geographic information systems being developed in China, Australia, and Hong Kong. He was in on the beginnings of the GIS undergraduate and graduate programs at the Hong Kong Polytechnic. Y. C. was granted an extension of his leave of absence for a further two years starting September 1997. While at Hong Kong Polytechnic, in 1999 Y. C. won that university's President's Achievement Award.

He returned to UNB in August 1999 and took on the duties of Director of Graduate Studies (DoGS).

He held the DoGS position until February 2002 when he underwent the first of a number of operations for cancer.

Y. C. was a gifted teacher concerned with developing innovative teaching methods to explain difficult concepts. His efforts were appreciated by his students who consistently gave him excellent opinion surveys. He was in demand as a community and regional speaker because he was so capable of making complicated material simple to grasp. He had a wonderful ability to fomulate and articulate concepts.

In his own words, this is how Y. C. saw his arrival at UNB

Before immigrating to Canada from Hong Kong, I spent a year at ITC in the Netherlands studying cartography. A computer cartography course there in 1973 intrigued me, and I asked staff members and students at ITC where I should go for further studies in Canada. There seemed to be one clear answer: UNB. After landing in Vancouver in 1974 and holding two jobs in draughting, I entered Simon Fraser University and in 1977 obtained a BSc in Computing Science with a minor in mathematics. I hadn't gone straight to UNB because of a miscommunication between my aunt, who thought I should stay in Vancouver, and myself who fully intended on heading east. My aunt won, for a while, but then it was time for UNB. I applied to the Department for a Masters degree, and was encouraged to enter a joint program with Computer Science because of my BSc. I took that suggestion and thought that after the MSc I would go elsewhere, perhaps Ottawa, to find a job. Well, things didn't work out that way!

In addition to numerous papers in journals and proceedings, public lectures and presentations, Y. C. was also the author of :
Lee, Y.C. (1995). GIS for the Curious. Geomatics Canada, Ottawa 278 pages.
Lee, Y.C. (2001). GIS for the Curious. 2nd Edition, CD-ROM, Fredericton, 279 pages.

Y. C. was a very talented photographer and some of his work can be see at

http://www.pbase.com/ycleepersonal.

The funeral service is scheduled for noon on Saturday, June 26, at St. Dunstan's Roman Catholic Church on Regent Street in Fredericton. The wish of Y.C. is that there be no flowers, but rather donations be made to a charity of your choice, if you so wish.

In his memory, UNB has established the Dr. Y. C. Lee Memorial Scholarship.