Szu-Lien Wang

Szu-Lien Wang (王倪思廉) was born on January 11, 1947 in Shangyu District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China and died on September 14, 2025 at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Also known as Annie, but best known as “Mom” or “Nana”, Szu-Lien passed away peacefully on a warm, sunny September morning. She leaves behind her children Vivian, David and Eric, granddaughter Katie, a younger brother Robin, a former husband Chia-Kan and a wealth of relatives and friends across a couple of continents.

Born in mainland China, Szu-Lien Ni (倪思廉) lived in Shanghai for a few years before her family moved to Taiwan in order not get embroiled in political turmoil in the mainland at the time. Szu-Lien was a self-described troublemaker in her youth, being a little too rebellious, independent, and adventurous. She graduated from Chinese Culture University (中國文化大學) studying Chinese, worked for a short time at Yishou Shipping Company (益壽航運股份有限公司) before meeting her future husband, Chia-Kan Wang, at a social gathering. Despite her mother’s objections to Chia-Kan being too provincial for her daughter’s cosmopolitan upbringing, Szu-Lien married Chia-Kan at the age of 25. She would go on to become a mother at 26, a divorcee at 51, and a grandmother at 58.

Szu-Lien and Chia-Kan, with three young children in tow, emigrated from Taiwan to the US in 1985 before finally settling in Canada in 1989. They muddled their way through immigration, parenthood, language barriers and low-wage jobs to create a life and future for their family. Szu-Lien’s and Chia-Kan’s hard work and sacrifices meant that, even though, their family lived frugally, their children were never deprived and grew up to be successful, independent adults.

Szu-Lien loved the simple things in life: good food, juicy gossip, staying at fancy hotels, big dogs, dancing, cheap prices, and, especially, spending time with family and friends. She was a fiercely independent woman with an indomitable zest for life, an obstinate need to be right all the time, and an off-beat sense of humour accompanied by a delightfully mischievous laugh. But, above all else, Szu-Lien was a mother, unwavering in her love, devotion and selflessness towards her children.

Szu-Lien was diagnosed with cancer in May 2025 and was moved into palliative care at Sunnybrook in June 2025. Towards the end of her life, Szu-Lien never showed any fear or sadness for her prognosis, never wanted anyone to make a fuss over her, and always had the biggest, sweetest smile on her face whenever her children came to visit, especially to take her out of the hospital for a nice meal. Her zeal for life never wavered.

On August 31, 2025, right after enjoying some dim sum, at a fancy new restaurant, consisting of her favourite items like hot and sour soup, BBQ pork buns, shrimp rolls, and mango pudding, Szu-Lien suffered a stroke. Shortly afterwards, she started to slip away gradually, day by day, until the morning of September 14, 2025 when Szu-Lien died, peacefully, at the age of 78, without any kerfuffle or drama, just as she would have wanted.

Szu-Lien’s funeral was held on September 20, 2025 at the beautiful North Toronto Crematorium with her children, grandchild, former husband and a few family friends present to bid her a final farewell. Szu-Lien’s brother, Robin, was unable to visit from Taiwan but he was able to say his final goodbyes to his big sister via a video call.

Szu-Lien lived a full and remarkable life having survived political upheavals, a rocky marriage, parenthood, racism, divorce, terminal cancer and hospital food. Words cannot convey the pain of losing someone like Szu-Lien, who was a safe harbour, a loving constant, and the centre of our small corner of the universe.

So, to Szu-Lien Wang (王倪思廉): “Goodbye! See you later! I love you! Mwah! Mwah!”