Retired Cal State Fullerton Professor, Nobel Nominee Loh Sen Tsai Dies at 91

Nobel Peace Prize nominee and longtime Cal State Fullerton psychology professor Loh Sen Tsai has died, university officials announced Monday. Tsai, who was 91, suffered a fatal heart attack Thursday.

A memorial service will be conducted for the retired professor today at a mortuary in Newport Beach, according to a university spokesman.

Tsai, a resident of Laguna Hills, came to the Fullerton campus in 1965 after a long and distinguished career researching animal behavior, and particularly his finding that natural enemies--rats and cats--can be trained to live together in harmony. It was that research on peace and cooperation, conducted at Tulane University in New Orleans, that led to his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951, university officials said.

He was also the author of more than 150 research papers on brain damage, Vitamin B-complex deficiency and electroconvulsive shock. His work was featured in three issues of Life Magazine.

Tsai, who was born in China, received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago in 1928, and landed a faculty post there the following year. He also held faculty appointments at Brown University, UCLA and Tulane.

In the 1940s, Tsai returned to his homeland where he became a professor and dean at the University of Nanking, and later the director of the Research Institute of Educational Psychology at National Sun Yat-sen University. During that period, he also served as an adviser to the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Tsai returned to the United States in the late 1940s and joined the faculty at Tulane, where much of his intensive research was conducted.

At near retirement age, he came to the Fullerton campus, where he won a distinguished teaching award in 1969 and was named outstanding professor of the year in 1971. He retired in 1973.

Tsai is survived by Aimee Tsai, his wife of 60 years, and their three daughters.

The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. in the chapel at Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View Drive, Newport Beach.