Martha Y. Wang, 80, of Glen Rock, NJ passed away on Friday, January 24, 2020. An only child born and raised in Southern Taiwan, she lost her father at age 9 and her mother at age 15. Despite these hardships, she made the difficult decision to move by herself to Tapei where she attended the Blessed Imelda’s School and graduated with highest honors. She scored well enough on her entrance exams to attend National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan where she met her husband, Kang-lu Wang and graduated with a B.S. in Nutrition. After graduating, she taught high school biology until she and her husband came to the United States to attend graduate school at Kansas State University. In 1969, she earned her M.S. in food science and she continued working while her husband completed his Ph.D. They eventually settled down in Glen Rock in 1977. She was a parishioner of St. Catharine RC Church in Glen Rock as well as the Fair Lawn Taiwanese Church.
Martha was a principal board member of the Kang-lu Wang Memorial Foundation and an active member of the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association as well as various other Taiwanese organizations including the World United Formosans for Independence. An avid reader of the New York Times, she was a strong advocate for human rights, Taiwanese democracy and women’s rights.
Prior to retiring in 2002, she was employed as a Senior Food Scientist with Nabisco Brands Inc. in Fair Lawn and East Hanover, NJ for 29 years. She is an inventor of 3 patents in the field of cereal science and the lead inventor of a process for making shredded potato products. In retirement, she enjoyed traveling widely, reading, and preparing meals for her granddaughters.