ERNEST LEUANG Obituary (2022) – Tewksbury, MA

LEUANG, Ernest E. “Ernie” Born in Passaic, New Jersey, was 87 when he died February 12. He grew up with his older sister, Bunny, and his parents, Ernest and Elizabeth in Wallington, New Jersey. He is survived by three children, Robert, Ronald and Cynthia, their spouses, Kay, Patricia and Emile, four grandchildren, Ben, Laura, Moira and Hailey, and one great-grandchild, Jonah. Ernie served as an army medic during the Korean conflict, stationed in Germany. He returned home and started a family while working and attending Rutgers University at night, graduating in 1964 with a degree in chemistry. Soon after, the family moved to Burlington, Vermont, where he worked for IBM. The family spent many years fishing and boating in the summer and skiing in the winter. He began his love of the water and fishing as a child, building boats with his father, and spent much of his life reminiscing and telling stories of fishing. He often bragged about how our family had been asked to withdraw from the IBM fishing competition after winning all the competitions in all age groups for several years in a row! After any successful fishing adventure, he would spend hours cleaning fish at the kitchen table, accompanied by the family cat foraging for leftovers. After retirement, he lived in Florida where he enjoyed ballroom dancing, and that’s exactly what he was doing when he fell on a Friday night in 2014, sustaining a serious head injury. Needing extra help, he returned to New England to be closer to his family. Ernie was blessed to live another 7 years at Heatherwood in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. There he would eventually meet his sweetheart, Liz, at a senior center. They spent many happy days together, playing bridge, taking long walks and playing volleyball with the other residents. Although his health had deteriorated over the past few months, he retained his sense of humor, begging the nurses to release him while chanting “Please release me, let me go?” We cannot say enough about the loving and dedicated medical professionals who cared for him over the years, including Dr. Ronald Kwon, staff at Lowell General Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, Care One Rehab in Lexington and a big shout out to Care Dimensions Hospice in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where his passing was met with compassion and professionalism. Without all of you, we would have shared less time with our loved one, and for that we are truly grateful! Ernie’s brain was donated to the Harvard Brain Bank for the study of dementia research. We would like to thank them and raise awareness of the excellent work they do in the study of brain diseases. A memorial service is planned in Heatherwood, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and a private Zoom memorial will be held for extended family members. His ashes will be privately scattered in Denmark, Maine this summer. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to: Care Dimensions, 125 Winter Street, Lincoln, MA 01773, or Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, McLean Hospital, Mail Stop 138, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478-1064. To send your condolences to the family online, visit:

www.neptunecremationofma.com