Former Kirkland Resident, Entrepreneur, Dies at 23

Edward P. Chen ’01, entrepreneur, stock trader and an “ebullient” former Kirkland House resident died of a fall in California on Mar. 18. He was 23.

Friends said that medication Chen was taking for bipolar disorder may have affected his balance and contributed to his fatal fall from a 150-ft. cliff near Carmel, Calif.

Friends remember Chen for being outgoing and kind-spirited, and say they were shocked to hear of his illness and death.

“He was one of those people who brightens your day,” said Amy Chen ’01, who was not related to Edward Chen.

Kirkland House Master Tom Conley said Chen was an “ebullient” member of the House and “liked to talk about everything from physics and letters to baseball.”

“He loved life,” Conley said.

Chen suffered a nervous breakdown in January and spent several weeks in the hospital.

He recovered enough to return to his job as a financial analyst for Intel Corporation in March, friends said.

Before returning to work, he joined his parents on a family vacation to visit cousins in Oregon.

On the return drive to his home in San Jose, he stopped at a scenic lookout overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Carmel.

His body was found at the foot of the cliff.

His camera case, which was found in his car, was empty, suggesting to friends and family that he might have stopped to take a photograph of the view.

Chen, an economics concentrator, started a company called BizTech Enterprizes while at Harvard.

“The company was Ed’s idea, but he always wanted to share his successes with others,” John Marshall ’01 said.

Encouraged by his successful investment of a gift of money given to him by his parents upon graduating from high school, Chen applied his money-managing talents to his company.

The company provided investment services and educational consulting.

When after-school programs in his hometown of Holmdel, N.J. were threat ened, Chen offered his company’s services to support them.

Despite the time he gave to running BizTech and managing his personal portfolio, Chen played an active role in Harvard Model Congress while at Harvard.

He joined the organization during his first year and rose through the ranks, running committees and eventually holding the position of expert witness and senior staffer, said Amy Chen.

Chen also tutored for the Chinatown after-school program through the Phillips Brooks House and was a member of the Chinese Students Association.

He represented Kirkland House in tennis, volleyball basketball intramural competitions, Marshall said.

Brian C. Sze ’03, who was three years behind Chen at Holmdel High School, remembered getting trounced by him at tennis during competitions three times a week one summer.

“He beat me every single time. I would maybe beat him in one set every 20 or 30 matches,” said Sze, who viewed Chen as a “older brother” figure.

Chen is survived by his father, who works at Lucent Technologies, his mother and a younger brother Jeffrey, who is a senior at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Memorial services were held at his high school on March 29, which were attended by more than 100 people, according to Sze.

—Staff writer Ella A. Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@fas.harvard.edu.