Elizabeth (Liz) Ann Sanborn

Elizabeth (Liz) Ann Sanborn was born on June 23rd to Edith and Dr. Clifton Sanborn.
She was an avid swimmer as a child. She continued to be an exceptional athlete throughout her life and was extremely active as one of the original members of her gym The Sports Club Irvine.
Liz studied Dramatic Arts and Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and spent her junior year abroad at the University of Paris at Sorbonne.
She converted to Catholicism as an adult, and was a parishioner at her beloved Our Lady Queen of Angels parish in Newport Beach, CA. She served as a Eucharistic Minister and received a blessing from Pope John Paul II for her work with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. She was also active as a Cursillo “Cadette” and served in Corpus Christi.
As Vice President of New Business Development for TKB Medical (aka TKB International) for over 25 years, she was responsible for development of TKB’s annual strategic plan and generation of business opportunities to accomplish plan objectives, as well as manage the U.S. Operations. She used her leadership and diplomatic skills to build cross cultural and cross functional teams required to launch new medical devices in international markets. Liz identified and developed business lines of life-saving equipment utilized in the medical community throughout the world which she traveled extensively. Liz worked tirelessly to acquire the latest medical devices for Tokibo, Co. Ltd, Japan’s largest medical equipment distributor. Her dedication and expertise led to the introduction of numerous US medical technologies to the Japanese market, some of which were the first of their type in Japan. In addition to these responsibilities, Liz also supported Tokibo’s ventilator manufacturing company, Newport Medical Instruments, by assisting with U.S. government projects. She was instrumental in Newport Medical winning a number of contracts for US states that required ventilators for emergency preparedness stockpiles. Most recently she contributed to Newport Medical being awarded a contract with the US government for the development of the next generation of portable ventilators. She was professional, knowledgeable, and invaluable to TKB and Newport, and regarded by her peers as one of inspiration and courage.
She was selfless, generous, kind, caring, gracious and personable. Her philanthropy was evident through her work with the Cal Alumni Scholarship Committee which she chaired for Orange County for many years. She was a board member of Boys Hope Girls Hope. After Katrina, she traveled to New Orleans for an extended stay and worked with Habitat for Humanity and contributed in building Musician’s Village in the Upper Ninth Ward. She was also instrumental in fundraising for Women’s Cancer Research Foundation.
Liz often made up food baskets in her kitchen on holidays and other days. She personally delivered the meals to the homeless, simply inspired to help.
Liz passed away on July 2nd, 2011. She is survived by her devoted sweetheart Daniel E. Chien, her mother Edith and brother Clifton of Upland, and sister Carolyn of San Francisco.
Memorial Services for Ms. Elizabeth Ann Sanborn will be as follows:
Friday August 5th, 2011 Our Lady Queen of Angels Church
2046 Mar Vista Dr. Newport Beach, CA 92660-4533 Telephone (949) 644-0200
Funeral Mass 11 a.m. – 12 Noon Reception at Parishioner’s Hall Noon – 2 p.m.
Please RSVP to Daniel Chien at: RememberingLiz@yahoo.com
Donations can be made to the Elizabeth Sanborn Scholarship Fund, c/o Joani Carpenter, Cal Alumni Association, 1 Alumni House, Berkeley, CA 94720-7520. Tel (510) 643-3919.