Obituary of Dr. Edward Daniel Lin

Dr. Edward Lin was a compassionate physician, Asian equality activist, brilliant and prolific inventor, and loving husband and proud father.  Born into poverty on April 19, 1953 in Pingtung, Taiwan to Henry Lin and Ruth Tseng, he was the youngest of 6 siblings.  Ed overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to come to the US alone as a 9^th grader at the tender age of 16.  He successfully aced a single semester of a custom, highly accelerated ‘senior year’ of high school, and then attended college, still at age 16!  He continued on to medical school and completed his anesthesiology residency at Yale University. 

Ed met his future wife, Suzanna, with assistance from his sisters after they saw her photo in her school’s medical student directory and insisted she should meet their brother!  He practiced medicine in Ohio, swiftly rising to Chairman of Anesthesiology at Massillon Community Hospital.  Believing that he could make an even greater impact to better the world, he left to become a full-time inventor and relocated to Sarasota, FL in 1998.

Channeling his boundless passion and creativity into solving the world’s problems, Ed secured over 20 patents covering innovations ranging from catheters, mobile workstations, needle-recapping, multi-function keypads, wound care, super oxygenating mask systems, and more.  The ever-ambitious visionary, he quickly turned his focus internationally with a goal of setting the stage for his products to benefit as many people as possible.

Ed’s larger-than-life energy and enthusiasm filled and commanded a room when he entered.  Anyone who ever met Ed knew his mind was ceaselessly whirring: he was endlessly quipping jokes and making puns.  A true believer in going the extra 5 miles or walking the lesser traveled paths, he was tireless in his pursuit of excellence and was constantly striving to find and create improvements that would help people in every small and large-scale way around the globe.  Even after leaving the practice of medicine, Ed remained passionate about wound care and healing.  He loved to perform ‘surgery’ on trees, grafting a variety of cultivars and nurturing all of the tropical fruit trees and many vegetables in his and Suzanna’s garden.  A staunch environmentalist, Ed was fascinated by nature’s wonders, and he and Suzanna enjoyed sharing the fruits of their labor and teaching others about them.  He worked hard to instill all of these values in his children, and also passed along his amazing sense of humor to them.

Despite how busy Ed constantly was with all of his ongoing projects, he was always ready and willing to help when he saw a need or could assist any person.  His family is very touched that Ed has made such a meaningful and lasting impact in the lives of so many friends and family all through his life.  His tremendous legacy will continue on through his life’s work, making a positive difference for people he will never even meet.  

Ed passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on January 5, 2024 at the age of 70, after over 47 years of marriage.  He leaves behind his devoted wife, Suzanna, two children, Bryan and Laura, and beloved grandsons, Jae and Rayn.