Gwen Kao Biography – Gwen Kao Wiki
Gwen Kao is the Chairman of the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease Limited. She is the widow of Charles K. Kao who was a Chinese-born British-American electrical engineer and physicist who pioneered the development and use of fibre optics in telecommunications. In the 1960s, Kao created various methods to combine glass fibres with lasers in order to transmit digital data, which laid the groundwork for the evolution of the Internet.
Gwen’s Foundation is a registered non-profit making charity organization set in 2010 by Professor and Mrs. Kao. The Foundation aims to raise public awareness of Alzheimer’s disease, educating the general public on brain healthcare strategies, enhancing care and support for Alzheimer’s patients, their families, and caregivers according to Jaderin. The Foundation also aims to encourage and facilitate co-operation amongst the various organizations, such as universities, government departments, and non-governmental organizations to enhance resource allocation and education, thereby further benefitting Alzheimer’s patients and their families and the support system. The Foundation is supported by public donations, sponsorships, and fundraising activities.
She started her career as a system analyst and engineer at Standard Telephones & Cables working with the first generation computers before her career was disrupted. She tried to pursue many other occupations but finally became the dedicated household manager, freeing her husband to devote himself to his career full-time.
She graduated from London University in 1955 with a bachelor of science degree.
Gwen Kao Age
She was born May Wan Wong in the United Kingdom in 1934.
Gwen Kao Husband
Until 2018, she was married to her late husband, Prof. Charles Kao in 1959. She had met him in London as a co-worker. Her husband is known as “Father of Fiber Optics”. In 2009, Prof. Kao made international headlines with his award of the Nobel Prize in Physics. This publicity included the release of news that Prof Kao has Alzheimer’s disease. Having watched over her husband since the disease was diagnosed in 2002, Mrs. Kao communicates the need for all to know the symptoms and of the problems encountered by caregivers.
Her husband died on September 23, 2018, at the age of 84.
Gwen Kao Children
Beginning in 2008, he resided in Mountain View, California, United States, where he moved from Hong Kong in order to live near his children and grandchild. They had two children, a son called Simon, born in 1961, and a daughter called Amanda, born in 1963.
Gwen Kao Parents
She is the daughter of immigrant parents from Guangdong Province, in the south of China. With her siblings, they were born and raised in the United Kingdom.
Charles K. Kao Death
Her husband Charles, died on September 23, 2018, at the age of 84. In 2016, her husband lost the ability to maintain his balance. At the end-stage of his dementia, he was cared for by his wife and intended not to be kept alive with life support or have CPR performed on him. He passed on at Bradbury Hospice in Hong Kong.
Charles K. Kao Cause of Death
He died of dementia on September 23, 2018, at the age of 84.
