Zhenglian (David) Jiang

Zhenglian (David) Jiang, 68, of Overland Park, KS, passed away peacefully on May 29, 2026, surrounded by loved ones.

Zhenglian, known as David by many of his friends, was born on March 10, 1958 (April 9, 1957 according to the Chinese calendar) in the village of Wawo, in Liaoning province, China. He took after both his father, Jiang Yunxi—a wise, fierce, and intelligent man who taught himself to read despite being unable to go to school—as well as his mother, Liu Furong—a kind and generous woman who was devoted to her family and had a wide network of friends. Zhenglian, the fourth of five children, grew up farming in the countryside before being among the first cohorts to successfully pass the college entry exam when it was reinstituted in China in 1977, enabling him to leave the countryside and study in the city of Changchun.

A self-made man, Zhenglian first taught himself rudimentary English by listening to the radio late at night in his college dormitory in Changchun, which gave him the opportunity to be selected to continue his English studies at a larger university in Dalian, China.

Zhenglian immigrated to the United States in 1987 with a suitcase, $60 in his pocket, and a determination to make a better life for himself, his wife, and his newborn daughter. Although he was educated as a geologist, and received a master’s degree in Urban Environmental Geology from UMKC, he decided to switch the focus of his studies, and obtained a second master’s degree in Computer Science from UMKC.

Zhenglian worked as a software engineer at H&R Block for 20 years, before retiring after receiving a sudden diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in late 2013. He was a fighter who beat his first cancer diagnosis thanks to both the brilliant efforts of the BMT team at KU Medical Center as well as the miracle of a fully matched, unrelated bone marrow donor, whose selfless donation gave Zhenglian 12 more years and another lease on life.

He was a loving, generous, and intensely principled man who was devoted to his two daughters, FeiFei and Lily. To know him was to admire and love him. He gave back to his community in many ways, including giving back to his church; volunteering at KU Medical Center after he recovered from his first AML diagnosis; and serving many times as an Assistant Supervising Judge at the Johnson County Election Office, helping people to exercise their right to vote. He took advantage of the time he had after his first cancer diagnosis to live life to the fullest, fulfilling his thirst for discovery and learning by traveling multiple times a year to new countries, tending his beloved home garden, becoming addicted to going fishing, and walking the many parks and nature trails in the Kansas City area.

An inspiration to many, Zhenglian is survived in the U.S. by his two loving daughters, FeiFei (husband Bret Hembd) and Lily. He is survived in China by his siblings with whom he shared a close bond throughout his life—brothers, Zhengjun, Zhengxuan, and Zhengtao, and their wives; as well as his sister Meifu.

A Celebration of Life will be held in his honor at Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church in Overland Park at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, 2026. The service will also be livestreamed for out-of-town friends and family. The livestream can be accessed here.

In lieu of any monetary gifts or flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be directed to Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society): https://diy.bloodcancerunited.org/DavidJiang.

A burial service will take place later in the fall at the family plot in the Chinese countryside, the place that Zhenglian always said is the region of his dreams. May he rest in eternal peace.