Dr. rer. nat. Kissu Schin, age 84, passed away peacefully on May 7, 2019, surrounded by his family, at the Wesley Community Health Care Center in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Kissu was born November 14, 1934 to the late Dr WoongHo Shin, MD and his wife Namsoo Rim in Seoul, Korea. He leaves behind his loving wife of 55 years, Ursula, and three children Michael and wife Katie, Connie, and Thomas and wife Rhiannon, five grandchildren, Alex, Michaela, Cameron, Nathan and Tyler; his three sisters Dr. CheongOck Shin, PhD, Dr. JaeOck Shin, MD, KiuOck Shin, and his brother Dr. JeungSoo Shin, MD, and a number of nieces and nephews. Kissu was born and raised in Seoul South Korea.
After finishing high school, Kissu served two mandatory years in the Korean Armed Forces, before attending the Seoul National University, majoring in Biology/Zoology. He finished his studies in Germany, receiving his PhD in Biology from the University of Göttingen in 1962. There he met and married his wife Ursula.
From Göttingen he moved to the University of Tübingen where he did post-doctoral work and began his professional career. He conducted biological research and eventually moved to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ursula joined him soon thereafter.
From Purdue University, Kissu moved to the University of Connecticut in Storrs continuing genetics research. He made his final move to SUNY Plattsburgh in 1970, where he remained until his retirement in 1997. He served as professor of Biology/Genetics teaching several core and specialty courses, as well as continuing his academic research.
Kissu was a proud father of his three children. While he came to the US to teach, his ultimate goal was to create greater opportunities for his family than what he had growing up. As a professional academic, he wanted to make sure his children had a well-rounded education.
He invested in helping them pursue their many interests including insisting all three learn to play the piano at a young age hoping one of them would eventually fund his retirement. His backup plan had him dabbling with stocks, watching ticker tapes on television, betting he could do better than his broker. His love of travel led him to Mexico, Asia, and back to Europe as often as he could with Ursula to visit family and enjoy all the beauties of the world.
In their travels, he found a new hobby, videography. He loved recording the beauty of the churches and architecture throughout Bavaria and Italy. Kissu loved gardening in retirement, especially flower gardening.
It provided him with great joy to make the whole street beautiful by creating ornamental masterpieces in the front yard that all could admire. He loved talking with friends and neighbors as they walked by so he could teach them a little bit of what he had done. There will be a private memorial service for the family only.
The family asks, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Alzheimer’s Association of Northeastern New York.
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