Retired American surgeon Samuel Noordhoff, founder of the Taipei-based Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation, has passed away in the US, the foundation announced yesterday.
Noordhoff, better known in Taiwan by his Chinese name, Luo Huei-fu (羅慧夫), died of heart failure at 3am on Monday at the age of 91, the foundation said in a statement.
A memorial service is to be held for Noordhoff in Taipei, the foundation said, without setting a date.
Photo courtesy of the General Association of Chinese Culture
A surgeon and missionary from Orange, Iowa, Noordhoff came to Taiwan in 1959 at the invitation of Mackay Memorial Hospital.
He began helping Taiwanese children born with cleft lips and palates, a mission that would remain important to him for 40 years.
Noordhoff, who served as president of both Mackay Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, set many milestones in craniofacial care in the nation.
He set up its first craniofacial center for patients with cleft lips and palates along with the first polio rehabilitation center, the first burn center and the first intensive care unit.
In 1989, he donated US$100,000 to establish the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation to help people with craniofacial deformities receive holistic care, to sponsor research to advance the quality of medical care, and to improve public awareness and social acceptance of patients.
He returned to the US to live in 1999 after retiring from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, but visited Taiwan frequently, with his last visit being in 2013.
Noordhoff suffered from Parkinson’s disease in the later years of his life, limiting his ability to travel.
Last year he received a Presidential Cultural Award from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in recognition of his humanitarian contributions.
Unable to fly back to Taiwan to receive the award, he sent a written speech in which he credited all Taiwanese for the honor.
“On behalf of the people in Taiwan’s medical field, this award is really yours. For you see, you cannot accomplish anything by yourself,” Noordhoff wrote.
“Many hard working and wonderful people helped me through the years. It is the people in the medical field of Taiwan that have worked hard to develop Taiwan’s medical community into the world renowned community it is today,” he added.
Tsai offered her condolences via a post on Facebook and expressed gratitude for Noordhoff’s contribution to Taiwan.
“You are forever a member of our family,” Tsai said.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS