C. Ping Lee

by U Htin Paw (EE58) & Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

I was very sad to read the news of Saya C. Ping Lee in Ex-RIT web site. Ko Win Aung (M62, NSF) wrote: “Please add the name of my late father, Saya C. Ping Lee, Lecturer in Electrical Engineering, BOC College. He passed away in Berkeley, CA in 1987. He was a contemporary of the late Dean U Ba Hli and late Saya U Kyaw Tun. His former students included the late Saya U Sein Hlaing”.

At our first Burmese Engineers Association in the Bay Area, he was named the first honorary member of the association.

When I was a first year student at BOC College, I heard he had left the BOC College of engineering for the position of the Director of Technical Education at Insein Technical Institute (GTI). Though he left the BOC College, people at the Engineering Lab mentioned so much of their fond memory of him. The words then was that he left BOC College to take up a position as an educator in the engineering arena, GTI. He was one of the most outstanding scholars in electrical engineering in Burma of his time. He was a good teacher and a compassionate one. Most of his pupils could attest to that.

He had groomed many outstanding pupils like, U Mya Than (EE 53) a contemporary of Prof. U Sein Hlaing, and U Jimmy Sein, to head several of the branch facilities in Insein and Mandalay. Although he has departed, he left behind his legacies for all his pupils to cherish and treasure. Mr. U Taik Moh (C54), one of his top name pupils, said many good things of Saya C. Ping Lee. I am sure his contributions to Technical Education in Burma will remain in the forefront for years to come.

I would like to encourage his former pupils like Mr. Aw Taik Moh to write their thoughts and their fond memory of Saya C. Ping Lee for the posterity. If anyone who should meet U Mya Than B.Sc.Engg. (EE 53), M.S.E (Mich) (Ex-Principal, GTI, Insein), in the New York area, please let him know about this short note.

Ko Win Aung, please accept my sympathy and I would to put this on record in the ex-rit web site for all as my tribute to your Dad, Saya C. Ping Lee.

Sabbe purentu samma sankappa Mettacittena

(Maung H[tin] Paw – E58)

Updates (by Hla Min)

• Saya U Htin Paw is Past President of BEA and TBSA. He attended SPZP-2000. He is now GBNF. His only son Dr. Barry Paw passed away mid-air on a flight from Sydney to USA.
• U Than Aung (Minister of Education) recruited Saya C. Ping Lee (his student at SPHS) to be Director of Technical & Vocational Education.
• Dr. Win Aung (M62) worked for NSF and as Secretary General of iNeer. He hosted a Dinner Gathering following the RIT Alumni Reunion in East Coast in 2009.