HONG KONG (AP) – Famous Hong Kong political and business leaders paid tribute to the city’s late billionaire tycoon Lee Shau-kee on Monday, who led one of the largest real estate empires in the former British territory.
Lee died on March 17 at the age of 97 and was once named Asia’s richest man. In Forbes’ February ranking, he was listed as the city’s second-richest asset with $29.2 billion.
Lee founded Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. in 1976, and his empire helped shape the skyline of Asian financial hubs. The company’s portfolio includes landmarks such as the International Financial Center Complex in the heart of the vibrant business district and the IFC Shopping Center. His commercial interests also extend to other sectors, such as hotels, utilities and ferries in cities.
Lee was nicknamed “Uncle”, and Lee was named the fourth largest person in Asia and the world by Forbes in 1996. He was chairman and managing director of Henderson Land, and then resigned in 2019.
Like other tycoons, they rose in the city’s post-war economic boom, and then as mainland China abandoned Orthodox Marxism flourished, Lee met with former top Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Ze Zeming. In 2007, ten years after the end of British colonial rule, the Hong Kong government awarded him the Greater Baushinia Medal for his outstanding contribution to education and community service.
According to Henderson Land, the committee members responsible for his funeral included John Lee, the leading officials of Hong Kong, former city leaders Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-Ying, and Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Beijing Liaison Office, in Hong Kong. Other business and political heavyweights are also part of the committee.
Zheng, Lee and other former government officials and Richard Li, the youngest son of Hong Kong’s wealthiest man Li Ka-Shing, and his tribute to Lee during the vigil on Sunday.
Buddhist rituals were performed during Monday’s service. His body will be transported to his ancestral home in Mond District, Guangdong Province, coastal areas in southern China, across from Hong Kong, Lee was born like many top Hong Kong business leaders. In 1948, he moved to the city, a year after the Communist Party took office in mainland China, with the goal of being a landowner and becoming a key player in the city’s real estate industry.
He is known as “Warren Buffett” in Hong Kong for his investment acumen. He is also a leading philanthropist who has made significant contributions to the development of Hong Kong and mainland China.
