Robert Ho Hung-ngai, a celebrated Hong Kong journalist, philanthropist and avowed Buddhist, has died at the age of 93.
A notice posted on the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation’s website said that Ho died peacefully on November 30 in Vancouver, Canada.
A separate obituary in Canadian media reported that a private funeral would be held, with Buddhist prayer services scheduled for December 16.
Born in Hong Kong in 1932 to one of the city’s pre-eminent “first-generation” merchant families, Ho was the grandson of prominent businessman and philanthropist Robert Ho Tung, who was known as “the grand old man of Hong Kong”.
During World War II, Ho spent several years in southwestern China before returning to Hong Kong to complete secondary school studies. He later earned degrees in the United States from Colgate University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
While always involved in various businesses, Ho found his true calling in journalism. During his time in the US, he worked for the Pittsburgh Press in Pennsylvania and later with National Geographic.
Upon returning to Hong Kong, he joined Kung Sheung Daily News, a Chinese-language newspaper owned by his late grandfather.
He also served as the chairman of the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong for several years, during which he pursued an “agenda for global exchange and social responsibility in journalism”, according to the foundation’s notice.
During that period, he was the chairman of the Hong Kong Community Chest and the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Buddhist nunnery, as well as a trustee of Lingnan College, now known as Lingnan University.
Ho remained active after his retirement. In Vancouver, where he resided for more than 30 years until his death, he established the Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Canada Society in 1994 in honour of his late grandmother.
In 2005, he launched his family foundation to share Chinese arts and culture with the world, as well as to promote Buddhist practices in contemporary society and fund Buddhist studies in Hong Kong and North America.
Over the following years, he donated millions of US dollars to various universities across North America to establish Buddhist studies programmes, including the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and Stanford University.
Citing one of Ho’s mottos, “When drinking water, remember its source”, the foundation said he had made many donations to his alma mater, Colgate University in New York, including the school’s state-of-the-art interdisciplinary science centre.
He also made similarly large multimillion-dollar donations to Vancouver General Hospital and Lions Gate Hospital.
Ho was named a justice of the peace in Hong Kong in 1982, while his contributions in Canada also earned him an appointment to the Order of Canada in 2018.
A notice posted on the governor general of Canada’s website described Ho as a “distinguished philanthropist and visionary” who had been “building bridges for decades between Canadians and the institutions that serve them through his leadership and patronage”.
Ho is survived by his wife, Greta, his two children, Robert and Kevin, his daughter-in-law, Raquel, as well as his five grandchildren, Robert Damian, Lachlan, Kiara, Madeleine and Theodore. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
