Long-distance service
Hong Kong native finds many ways to assist the university
By Dwight Woodward

Daniel Shao recalls arriving in Athens for the first time in 1968 - on a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night. A friend of Shao's father had suggested Ohio University, but Shao, a native of Hong Kong, was unprepared for southeast Ohio.

"It was quite a culture shock," says Shao, AB '72. "There was no one to meet me, and I had to drag my luggage up to the Berry Hotel."

But Shao prospered. He became president of Berry Hall and was active on the College Green Council and the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity. His brother David, BSEE '73, soon joined him on campus.

For 22 years, Shao has served as executive director of a family business, Hong Kong's Van Yu Trading, which runs import and export businesses in Asia and the United States.

Despite living around the globe, Shao maintains strong ties to Athens. He has headed the Hong Kong chapter of the Ohio University Alumni Association since 1984 and is an Ohio University Foundation trustee. He has received several campus honors, was involved in university officials' March meetings with alumni in Asia and accompanied President Robert Glidden on a trip to Beijing.

Shao returns to campus often and always looks up one of his mentors, Distinguished Professor of Economics Richard Vedder.

"He made a strong impression on me," Shao says. "We have a lot of arguments - that is the fun part. But both of us are getting older, so our views have mellowed."

Vedder remembers Shao's diligence as a student and has been impressed by his service to the university.

"He's just a marvelous guy," Vedder says. "His support of the university is legendary."

Shao and his wife, Margaret, have three children, Matthew and Mark, both students at the the University of Michigan, and Stephanie, a high school senior who is considering, among a number of schools in the U.S., Ohio University.

Dwight Woodward, BA '81, MAIA '89, MSJ '89, is senior writer in the Office of Media Services.