James Chung-Mun Tom's Obituary
James ChungMun Tom was born on January 9, 1952, in Hong Kong to CheuckHung and Jing Kai Tom and was the second of three children. During his childhood school years in Hong Kong, James had already acquired his lifelong appreciation for classical music and was very actively involved in school choir activities.After graduating high school, James successfully applied to become a foreign exchange student, and began his studies in the United States at Yuba College in Marysville, California, obtaining his Associate of Arts degree in 1973. Shortly thereafter, he entered San Jose State University, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1976 followed by his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1979. Also in 1976, he married his college schoolmate May Dong and they settled first in San Jose, and later Milpitas and Cupertino. May and James had three children: Melissa, Audrey, and Jason Following James’ and May’s separation, James later settled in Fremont where he and his partner Sofie Liu had three children: William, Katie, and Tony.Those who knew James knew him as someone with an active, inquisitive mind. This evidenced itself early: while still in graduate school, he developed and successfully marketed an analytical software program. After finishing graduate school, James worked as an engineer in multiple companies where he gained experience in management, business, and executive decisionmaking. He was one of three founders of PCom, Inc., a Silicon Valley communications startup company, serving as Vice President of Engineering and along the way receiving a patent for innovations he developed there.His entrepreneurial drive never wavered, and in due course he determined it was time to take his experience and his software marketing efforts to the next level by launching Analop Engineering, Inc., as a fulltime, all in, enterprise. Initially working out of the garage at home with James as CEO and May handling front office/administrative matters, James and key founding associates labored long hours to develop and market cuttingedge satellite telecommunications solutions. Analop Engineering eventually became AnaCom, Inc., a company with sales worldwide that even now, some 20 years on, remains as another Silicon Valley garagebased success story and a laboratory for innovation and engineering excellence. James was proud to remain as AnaCom’s CEO until his passing.While James’ funeral is of course marked by the sadness of his passing, it is also an occasion for coming together and for celebrating his life; an occasion that would give him great comfort. Let us celebrate his memory together through remembering our time with him.
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