David Tod Roy was born in 1933 and died on May 31, 2016.

He was an American professor and scholar of Chinese literature.

Roy was a teacher at the University of Chicago from 1967 until he took early retirement in 2006.

David was best known for his translation of Jin Ping Mei, or The Plum in the Golden Vase, one of the Four Great Novels of the Ming dynasty.

That work was the first complete translation into a Western language.

David Tod Roy was diagnosed with ALS (often known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) just as he had finished the translation in 2012.

Roy’s doctoral research on the modern Chinese poet and literary figure, Guo Moruo was the foundation for his first book, Kuo Mo-Jo: The Early Years published by Harvard University Press in 1971.

David Tod Roy passed away at 83 yrs old.