David Yen (
Yen was the founder and chairman of the John Tung Foundation (
LIBERTY TIMES FILE PHOTO
Yen's relentless devotion to the anti-tobacco movement won him the title of being the "Lin Tse-hsu [
Yen was born to a well-off family in Shanghai in 1921. After graduating from Soochow University Law School in 1943, he was a research fellow in economics at the Imperial University of Kyoto from 1943 to 1944.
Yen then travelled to the US and obtained a doctorate from Indiana University's School of Law in 1949.
After finishing his studies, Yen immigrated to Brazil and started textile and flour businesses and opened restaurants. He also mastered six languages including Jap-anese, Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Yen settled in Taiwan in 1965 when he was hired to be the executive vice president of Yue Loong Motor.
Smoker turned crusader
Many people are surprised to learn that the head of the nation's most renowned anti-tobacco organization used to be chain smoker who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.
According to Yen, he smoked for over 40 years, starting as an 11 year-old and continuing right up until his right lung had to be removed because of pulmonary emphysema when he was 52.
That illness not only prompted Yen to quit smoking, but also lead to the establishment of his foundation in 1984.
As part of the foundation's fight against tobacco, Yen enlisted former president Lee Teng-hui (
In a bid to educate youngsters about the hazards of tobacco, Yen would lecture in schools, making over 500 appearances a year.
When the Taiwan was forced to open its market to foreign tobacco products and their related advertising in 1987, Yen lead his foundation and 21 other local non-governmental organizations to form the Anti-tobacco League of Taiwan to protest against the marketing and promotion of tobacco.
`He was optimistic'
"Yen was a person with great perseverance," said Judy Lin (
Recalling the difficulties the foundation encountered when initiating its anti-tobacco movement, Lin said, "some people called us fascists, others said that we only wanted to chop off smokers' heads."
"But Yen was always full of energy and hope," Lin said. " He was optimistic and encouraged us to keep on doing what we thought was right."
In addition to launching anti-tobacco campaigns in Taiwan, Yen and the foundation also promoted tobacco control in the international community.
In 1989, the foundation worked to win the cooperation of nearly 20 Asian nations to oppose international tobacco companies' efforts to expand their markets in Asia by establishing the Asia Pacific
Association for the Control of Tobacco (APACT).
"Yen was a very wise man with an international prospective," said Lin. "He told us the importance of forming alliances with other nations in dealing with tobacco giants because it was too tough for Taiwan to stand alone.
"He always stressed that with the power of an international alliance, we would not only empower Taiwan but also help weaker nations," she said.
One of APACT's achievements was its mobilization of international support when Thailand became the target of the US 301 trade regulations in 1989 in a bid to open up the kingdom's market to the US tobacco giants.
To help Thailand resist the pressure, the APACT submitted a petition to the US government, urging it to stop using the 301 for tobacco exports and launched measures a lobbying effort in the US Congress with the cooperation of the American Public Health Association and US health leaders.
Royal decoration
Thanks to APACT's efforts, Thailand was able to ban cigarette advertising and raise import tariffs against foreign tobacco. For his help Yen received a royal decoration -- "Commander of the Most Admirable Order the Direkguna-bhorn" -- from King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2000.
"I will not stop [fighting tobacco] until the day when there are no cigarettes in the world and when everyone can breathe fresh air," Yen said at the award ceremony.
In 1996, Yen was diagnosed with third-stage prostate cancer. Instead of being discouraged, however, Yen cooperated fully with his doctors and tried to learn more about the disease.
When he met others suffering from serious diseases, he used himself as an example to encourage them by saying, "I am an old man with an illness that is much more serious than yours. If I can be optimistic about my life, you can do it as well."
"I understand the meaning of life and I respect all lives as much as my own. I have never regretted what I have done and I see every single day as a treasure waiting for me to cherish it," he said.
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