Feeney: protein chemist

Robert Feeney, 94, a renowned protein chemist and longtime UC Davis faculty member in the Department of Food Science and Technology, died Sept. 21 in his Davis home.

Born in Oak Park, Ill., he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. After serving in an Army medical unit during World War II, he joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Laboratory in Albany, then taught chemistry at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

He came to UC Davis in 1960 and embarked on a research career that led him six times to the Antarctic. Drawn there originally to collect penguin eggs, Feeney achieved research breakthroughs in studying the mechanism of antifreeze proteins in suppressing and modifying ice growth.

He wrote two books, Professor on Ice and Polar Journeys: The Role of Food and Nutrition in Early Exploration. Even after his retirement in 1984, he co-authored more than 60 research papers.

Feeney enjoyed reading, art, music and the outdoors, according to his family. He is survived by his wife, Mary Alice; daughters Elizabeth Lindemann and Jane Baker; and three grandchildren. Memorial donations may be sent to the Yolo Hospice or the American Cancer Society.

— Pat Bailey

Ching-Liu: historian

Kwang-Ching Liu, professor emeritus of history, died Sept 28 in his Davis home. Best known for his work on nineteenth-century Chinese social and political history, he pioneered in the study of foreign business interests in China under the regime of asymmetrical treaty rights.

He graduated from Harvard in 1945 and received his doctorate in 1956 from the same institution after completing a six-year stint as Chinese translator for the United Nations Secretariat. He remained at Harvard as research fellow and instructor until 1962 when he went to Yale as a visiting professor.

In 1963 Ching-Liu came to UC Davis, his academic home for the next 30 years. He took the lead in building up Chinese and East Asian studies, developing the faculty in Chinese and Japanese history as well as in language programs and other disciplines. He was highly regarded as a mentor in directing his students to resources for dissertation research and in arranging support for their studies.

— Clifton B. Parker