Paul T. Lin's Obituary
Paul T. Lin, 79, of Dallas, Texas, passed away peacefully at home on Friday night, September 29, 2017, with his wife Gladys and daughter Debbie by his side. There was food and hot tea close at hand, as they were getting ready to have dinner and talk about their day. Although Paul worked hard, traveled extensively, and enjoyed many, many professional successes, it was the simple evenings with the family that he loved the best.Paul was born in Shanghai, China, on January 7, 1938, as the youngest one of six other siblings. As the little brother with five sisters and one big brother, he learned to be the funny, easygoing, patient, and amicable one. This natural charm served him well and he was the type who was on a first-name basis with the security guard, the boss who everyone wanted to work for, the popular dad who would drive a car full of girls to the Rick Springfield concert and wait patiently outside for three hours. He’s the dad to take a bunch of boys to see Star Wars the first time…then the second…then the third.After high school, he went on to study Mining/Metallurgical Engineering at the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. After graduation, he met the love of his life, Gladys. They met in a shorthand class, which he admits he was taking specifically to meet girls. It worked. Gladys says she immediately knew he was “the one.” It was as if they had known each other for many years, she says. In 1965 they got married after he graduated from the University of Minnesota with his master’s degree, and moved to Fishkill, New York, where Paul got a job at IBM.Once at IBM, his career took off. With his creative engineering mind and likeable personality, he was quickly noticed. His son Albert and daughter Debbie were born during those years in New York. In 1976, he was offered a job with Motorola (now NXP) in Austin. He moved the family there, when Austin was still a small, affordable town with no traffic but beautiful views and lakes.It was such a fascinating age for the technology industry and Paul loved being in the thick of it. He led Motorola’s wafer fabrication and packaging development teams – jobs that required him to manage thousands of people and travel the world. The factories that he managed won accolades and awards for performance and served as the model for other factories to emulate. He was awarded over 37 patents at Motorola, including an important patent for plastic ball grid array – a technology that helped miniaturize electronics so that we have small cell phones today instead of huge bricks. His career culminated at Motorola when he was named a Dan Noble Fellow, the highest technical honor at the company. And yet, amidst all this success, he always made time for family. Albert and Debbie used to argue and call him at work, screaming, and demanding that he mediate their endless brother-sister fights. He would – unbelievably – field these obnoxious calls and try to calm the kids down.Following Motorola, in 1995, Paul and Gladys decided to move to the Bay Area. Paul called 1995 “the year of freedom” because Albert and Debbie both graduated from law school and became gainfully employed. A lot of Bay Area companies really wanted both Paul and Gladys to work for them, so off they went. Paul spent time as an officer, founder, and president of small semiconductor manufacturing companies, but there was plenty of time to travel with Gladys and enjoy Paul’s favorite, the great Asian cuisine of California.By 2003, Paul and Gladys wanted to be closer to their grandkids so they moved to Dallas. They became an integral part of the lives of Debbie’s kids Brody, Molly, and Jack. They interspersed this with side trips to Austin to see Albert and spoil his daughter, Megan. Paul was a hands-on grandfather. When he was watching the kids, he kept of a detailed log of their activity – ounces of food ingested, number of dirty diapers, hours napped. All logged neatly in a little journal like a meticulous engineering notebook.During these years, many blue-chip law firms, like Weil Gotshal and Kirkland & Ellis, kept Paul busy in his golden years using him as an expert witness for the 50-something patents that Paul has in his name. It probably made the blue-chip law firms rich, but Paul was happy with them taking him to dinner, preferably Asian food. He was a cheap date. But he also took Gladys on many wonderful international trips and cruises in their retirement. And he also made sure that Gladys was taken care of. To this day, Gladys – a career woman in her own right – doesn’t know how to put gas in the car because Paul always wanted to do it for her.About five years ago, Paul was diagnosed with kidney disease and was on home dialysis for three years. Not once during that period did he lose his optimism, faith, or sense of humor.Paul is survived by his beloved wife Gladys, his son Albert (and Albert’s daughter Megan), and his daughter Debbie (with her sons Brody and Jack, and daughter, Molly). He is preceded in death by his father, Gar Beng Lim, and mother, Sue Lan Lim, along with his brother David Lim, sisters Julia Liu and Lily Ku. His surviving, loving siblings, Theresa Mao of Paradise Valley, Arizona, Mary Shen of Los Angeles, and Francia Hao of Los Angeles, no doubt have other funny stories to tell. He loved his family so much. They loved their baby brother and tolerated his goofiness.We will all miss you dearly. We know there is good Asian food, hot tea, and Frank Sinatra crooning in heaven with you.The family will hold a private service for Paul at Restland Funeral Home’s Wildwood Chapel in Dallas on Sunday, October 15th, 2017. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider donations to the ASN (American Society of Nephrology) Foundation for Kidney Research (https://www.asn-online.org/foundation/).
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