Educator, PDI columnist Queena Lee-Chua; 59

Queena Lee-Chua

Queena Lee-Chua, an award-winning educator, psychologist and researcher who wrote the weekly column “All in the Family” for the Inquirer’s business section, has died. She was 59.

“Writing for the Inquirer over the past decades was a great source of pride and joy for her. Thank you for championing her voice,” her son Scott told the paper on Thursday to relay news of her passing on Nov. 26.

Lee-Chua’s final column, also published on Thursday, examined the intersection of artificial intelligence and religion, with a particular focus on the Roman Catholic Church.

Inquirer business editor Tina Arceo-Dumlao said Lee-Chua leaves a mark as one of the paper’s “most inspiring and loyal columnists.”

“Thus, it will not be easy to get over her passing,” Arceo-Dumlao said. “We take comfort in knowing that we had the privilege of having worked with her all these many years.”

“She covered a wide range of topics in her popular weekly column, from mental health challenges of students to characteristics of successful and not-so-successful family-run corporations,” she added.

Many hats

Lee-Chua wore many hats: writer, professor, scholar, and even a licensed psychologist. She held a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (1987), a master’s degree in counselling psychology (1992) and a doctorate degree in clinical psychology (1995), all from Ateneo de Manila University.

She later joined Ateneo and became a full professor in both the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Psychology, teaching courses such as science education and social science. She was part of the board of directors of Ateneo’s Family Business Center.

Lee-Chua was also a researcher and sat on the editorial board of The Philippine Journal of Science. Her work spanned mathematics cognition, family business dynamics, adolescent and young adult work health, and math and science popularization.

Outside the academe, Lee-Chua published several books, including ”All in the Family Business,” a collection of her Inquirer columns. She also had a stint on television as host of the PTV 4 program “Fun with Math.” Lee-Chua served as a consultant to schools, civic groups, family businesses, and government agencies, such as the education and science and technology departments.

Multiple awards

She received numerous awards throughout her career, including The Outstanding Young Men Award, The Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service Award, the Metrobank Foundation’s Outstanding Teachers Award, the Ten Outstanding Young Filipino for education and the DOST’s Great Men and Women of Science Award.

She was also the first recipient of the Third World Academy of Sciences Regional Prize for Public Understanding of Science for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Region.

Her writing was recognized as well in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the National Book Awards, the Catholic Mass Media Awards (Best Business Column), the AIDS Media Awards (Best News Feature in Print), and bythe  Department of Science and Technology (Best S&T Columnist).

“Her work will remain a source of knowledge for others,” Arceo-Dumlao said. “All we can really say at this point is ‘thank you, Queena, for everything.’”

The wake will be from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8 at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Gonzaga Hall, of Ateneo de Manila University.