Dr. Josephine Conjuangco-Reyes, FEU President from 1986-1989, passed away last July 26, 2011. Her passing was sudden and her death is mourned by the entire FEU community. Below is a tribute presented by the Dr. Nicanor Reyes Jr, School of Medicine Alumni Foundation through a special issue of its ECTOPIC MURMURS newsletter.

July 26, Manila, Philippines. Our beloved chairperson of the FEU-NRMF Institute of Medicine, the eldest aunt of President Benigno Aquino III and the sister of late President Corazon C Aquino, collapsed this morning while delivering a eulogy for her oldest brother, Don Pedro Cojuangco.

(Don Pedro, the board chairman and president of the Hacienda Luisita sugar estate in Tarlac and a former president of First United Bank, now United Coconut Planters Bank, died last Wednesday of a heart attack.)

Dr Reyes was rushed to the St. Luke's Medical Center in Global City but died on the way. She was the seventh president of the Far Eastern University from 1985 to 1989 and an earlier dean of the FEU Institute of Arts and Sciences. She received a bachelor of arts degree from the Marymount College of New York, master in education from the Columbia University New York City, and a doctorate in education at FEU.

She was the widow of Dr Nicanor Reyes Jr who was also an FEU president from 1968 to 1985. She was the daughter of the late Jose C Cojuangco of Tarlac and Demetria Sumulong of Antipolo, Rizal.

She is the second of six siblings of Pedro, Teresita C Lopa, former President Corazon C Aquino, Jose Jr and Ma Paz C Teopaco. She has served as board member, director and vice president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac and the president of the Luisita Realty Corporation Her memorial ceremonies will be held on Saturday. Eternal rest unto her and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in eternal peace with the Lord. It is a sad day for all of us.

Oscar C. Tuazon MD (President)

On behalf of the FEUDNRSM Alumni Foundation officers, board trustees, Chapter presidents, and alumni, we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Mrs Josephine Cojuangco Reyes. We are saddened to hear the untimely passing of our beloved FEU-NRMF board chairperson who in one way or another has lifted our school to be one the finest medical school in the Philippines.

We will be missing her friendship, her mentorship, and her jokes as well as being a mother to all of us. Her journey to this earth has ended, now you she has started a long journey to the land of paradise and to the hand of our Almighty. May she rest in peace.

Emilie Hipol Ongcapin MD

As school administrator, Dr Josephine C Reyes had the vision to run one of the best medical schools in the Philippines. With her fiscal and business acumen she built and expanded the Medical Foundation to its present site. She had all the qualities you would like to have in a friend. I will miss her dearly. As a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she probably is the most generous and loving person you will ever meet.

She was low key and gentle in demeanor, but she never missed anything. She was a pro in reading between the lines. Her memory for people, names and remembering all details about them always amazed me.

Arsenio Martin MD67 FCCP

I met Dr Josephine C Reyes for the first time when she succeeded Alejandro Roces as the Dean of the FEU Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1962. She and her husband, Dr Nicanor Reyes Jr, were close friends of my future father-in- law, the late Dean Gilberto Mercado.

As a member of the FEUDNRSMAF board of trustees and later as president and board chairman, I had many discussions with her. At any time I was able to call or text her whenever I had something important to ask whether it was personal or dealt with our Alumni Foundation or medical school.

Dr Reyes was instrumental in getting the message of the recently elected President Noynoy Aquino for the syllabus during our annual reunion in Michigan in 2010. She was nice enough to give me the President’s office so I could follow-up on our request for a presidential message.

For more than 15 years every time we saw her we always would bring her pasalubong of her favorite medicine. She stated that it was more effective on her compared to their local made medicine.

A memory that will always remains dear to us is, once Fe and I visited her in January 2010 at her residence in Wack Wack in Mandaluyong. She was loudly emotional and we noticed how she missed her younger sister, the late President Cory Acquino. She showed us her family pictures; children, grandchildren, sisters, brother and a rare photograph of her late husband, Dr Nicanor Reyes Jr, which were all beautifully displayed in their living room. She was also proud to show us her children’s homes in their estate compound.

On June 19, 2011, during our annual reunion in Las Vegas, Fe and I, along with Danny and Melinda Fabito, were able to go to mass with Mrs. Reyes. After mass we hugged as a sign of respect.

She was frail but still mentally strong. There was an open invitation to come visit her at any time whenever we are in the Philippines.

As a gesture of appreciation and respect for Dr Reyes, Fe and I took care of their extended stay at the Monte Carlo. We were glad that we could do this for her on a personal basis, especially not knowing that this would be the last time we would see her. We will surely miss her, not only as the chairperson of the FEU-NRMF board of trustees but as a family friend.

Posted July 28, 2011