Former Alliant chief loved the outdoors, his overalls

CEDAR RAPIDS — When Lee Liu, the former chair of Alliant Energy, got home from the office, he’d head outside to work on his 60 acres in rural Linn County.

“He wanted to be a farmer, he liked his land,” Andrea Liu, his wife of 63 years, said this week. “When he left the professional part of life, he’d put on his overalls and go outside. That was Lee. He wanted trees and animals around him — raccoons, ducks, geese, foxes, the countryside.”

Liu died at his home March 27, a few days before his 90th birthday, of congestive heart failure, his wife said.

Liu joined Iowa Electric Light and Power in 1957 as an engineer and advanced through engineering, management and executive positions. He was named chair of IES Industries, the successor to Iowa Electric Light and Power, in 1991. Liu became chair of Alliant Energy Corp. at its formation in 1998, retiring in April 2000, though he remained on the utility’s board of directors.

“On behalf of the Alliant Energy family, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Lee — a founder of Alliant Energy, an individual with a strong connection to the community and a visionary leader,” John Larsen, Alliant’s chief executive officer and board chair, said in a statement.

“As we approach Alliant Energy’s 25th anniversary, Lee was instrumental in bringing together the three companies that we now know as Alliant Energy. Most importantly, though, his legacy of compassion and commitment to the communities he served will live on and will continue to guide our organization. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this challenging time.”

Liu also served on numerous civic boards, including the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Priority One, Mercy Medical Center, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.

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Liu received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1998 and the Horatio Alger Award in 1999, both of which celebrated his success as an immigrant.

Liu was born March 30, 1933, in Hunan, China, during the turbulent years China and Japan were skirmishing in the lead up to war.

Liu’s father, a high-ranking general in the Chinese army, was away fighting while Liu and his family lived in an abandoned building in the relative safety of southern China, according to his biography on the Horatio Alger website. The family was reunited and, after World War II, Liu’s father was appointed governor of the Fujian province before civil war broke out and the Liu family fled to Hong Kong, leaving everything behind.

Two years later, the Liu family moved to Brazil when Liu was 16. As the second oldest of six siblings, he felt obliged to help his family and delayed his schooling to drive a truck for a stone quarry and a coffee plantation his father was managing.

In 1953, Liu enrolled at Iowa State University in Ames, planning to study agriculture to help his family but then chose electrical engineering, working his way through college and graduating in three years. While Liu was at ISU, he met a visiting agronomy professor from Brazil who had a teenage daughter named Andrea.

“He would come over to talk to my father and eat my mother’s cooking,” Andrea Liu said. “My family left the campus, but we wrote for many years before Lee called and asked me to marry him.”

Andrea Pavageau and Lee Liu were married Dec. 19, 1959, in Ames, after Liu had started his career with Iowa Electric Light and Power.

“We had good times, bad times,” Andrea Liu said. “Never-ending love is what it was all about. It was very hard when he became ill, and he suffered a lot in his last two years. He wanted to die at home, and it was very important to me to deliver that. I was there when he took his last breath. We have deep faith. It was a very holy death.”

A funeral Mass was held for Liu on March 29 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hiawatha. Liu is survived by his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren.

Comments: mary.sharp@thegazette.com

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