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Family Planning Memorial Service for MBA Student Missing in Tsunami

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—The family of James W. Hsu, who was missing in Thailand following the Dec. 26 tsunami, is planning a private memorial service for him.

A written statement prepared late Wednesday by the Hsu family said, "After traveling to Thailand to search for James, it is clear to us that he has passed away. He was outgoing and introspective, athletic and intelligent, bold and sensitive. We are comforted by the wonderful memories that he left us and the hundreds if not thousands of lives that he touched. We have been told over and over that he had a gift for business, a gift for sports, a gift for so many things, but to us James was a gift, our greatest gift. And for that we consider ourselves very lucky.

"As we mourn him, it is vital to consider the scope of the tragedy that took him from us. Our hearts and prayers are with the families and friends throughout the world who have lost loved ones in the tsunami. We hope that James' life will spur all of us to take action and to contribute to the effort to help those who have survived, not just in the immediate aftermath, but also throughout the long, long road to recovery.

"A memorial service for James is being planned at Stanford University."

Hsu, who was a second-year MBA student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, was vacationing in the resort area of Koh Phi Phi with three other Business School students following a school study trip to Singapore and Thailand that had concluded a few days earlier. Another student, Laura Wales, was injured and is receiving medical care, but she and all other students have been accounted for.

Stanford Business School classmates have organized an effort to raise relief funds for all victims of the earthquake tsunami in Asia in Honor of James Hsu. (see related story).

Hsu, 25, was a U.S. citizen and a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley. He lived in Atherton and was a member of a number of Business School student organizations, including the Entrepreneurship Club, the Venture Capital Club. He served as co-financial officer of the Stanford Business School Student Association.

According to a biography that Hsu had prepared for the study trip, he was born in Merced and raised in Central California. He graduated from U.C.-Berkeley in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Hsu began his career at a music technology start-up called Kick.com. He helped raise $6.5 million from Sony and Utah Ventures, and the company was eventually sold to Sony in 2001. Hsu had led the touch-screen voting machine business for D.I.M.S., a leader in elections management systems that was acquired by Diebold. Last summer he worked at both Yahoo and Sun Microsystems. He had started an import business, which sold products from China. He also co-founded a product-design firm, Tray6, with his sister early last year. Hsu had expressed an interest in looking at Southeast Asia for new business opportunities in technology and manufacturing, hence his involvement in learning more about the region through the study trip.