A Cancer Suffering Professor Known as ‘Yonsei’s King of Volunteering’ Retired In the afternoon of December 15, 2009, Yonsei physicist Park Hong-lee distributed test papers to his 21 students taking his course on General Physics. The day was his last day to meet his students before his retirement in the coming February. He spent 23 years after he started working as a professor at Yonsei in September 1986. During his service, Professor Park produced 340 papers in SCI-listed journals. About his retirement, he said that he “will not conduct lectures even if he becomes a professor emeritus after his retirement” since he does not “want to take opportunities from young lecturers” and “had already thought about a ‘new job’ three years ago.” Professor Park’s new job is a “music teacher” who teaches music for free to children before school from low-income families. To do this, he gathered his 10 fellow professors and students who can play musical instruments. He is now looking for a space to open his free music school. At Yonsei, he has been known as the “king of volunteering.” He has served as leaders of “Yonsei Nanumdongne” (Yonsei Sharers), “Yonsei Volunteers Group” and other volunteering organizations since 1993. He also won a MBC Community Service Award last year. He said he is retiring from such activities too, so that he can focus on the music school from now on. The moment when he made up his mind was when he was diagnosed to have a cancer in winter 2006. “They said I had a malignant tumor in my pancreas. I couldn’t believe it.” His doctor told him that there was a possibility of pancreatic cancer. He warned that its cure rate is mere 5%, and it would be hard for him to survive for more than a month if the cancer spreads to other organs. Professor Park said, “I’m a 5th-degree master in kendo… I couldn’t easily take that I had a tumor.” He went to other three more hospitals. Their diagnoses differed: one hospital told that it was a malignant tumor, while the other two said that it was a positive tumor (which does not have a danger of increase, transfer and infiltration)”. His doctor asked him to have a biopsy for a closer examination, and have a radiation therapy if it is a cancer. He refused to have a biopsy, after a deep consideration. “I was not afraid of death, but there was a thing that I really wanted to do if I could live for five more years,” he said. “I left Yonsei halfway due to the failure of my father’s business. I went to the States in 1971 with 300 US dollars that I borrowed from my friend, and received my MA and Ph.D in Physics from the University of Dayton and University of Pennsylvania. I did all sorts of part-time jobs in slums during vacations. When I saw kids in the area changed after poor young artists teach them how to play the guitar, I came to think that I would do a thing like that one day.” Despite his cancer, he is determined to open the free music school. He straightened himself up, telling himself that a sickness is not a problem that can be solved by worrying about it, so he thought it was better just to forget about it. He learned how to play the accordion, and gathered people who agreed with his idea. “I received this transportation card in last October when I became 65 years old. I felt that I’m really retiring. I have no regret. I have other kids to teach”, Professor Park said. Courtesy of Chosunilbo, Article Originally Written by Kim Dong Hyun