Henry Fok

Henry Fok Ying Tung (zh-tp|t=霍英東|p=Huò Yīngdōng; 1923 – 2006) was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Nansha, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, Guangdong). Originally named Fok Koon Tai (霍官泰), he was the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of PRC since March 1993, and was possibly the most powerful Hongkonger in the politics of the People's Republic of China.

Biography

Born on 21 November 1922 in Hong Kong, Fok's father died in a boating accident when he was just seven. He studied at Queen's College, but was not able to finish junior high due to the Japanese invasion in 1937. He worked as a labourer during that time while helping to run the family's small boat business.

After the war, he became a successful businessman. His business interests included restaurants. real estate, casinos and petroleum. Fok reportedly made his first fortune smuggling arms into the mainland during the Korean War in the early 1950s, circumventing a United Nations arms embargo.cite web
last = Cheng
first = Jonathan
title = A life that reflected change
publisher = The Standard
date = 30 October 2006
url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30657&sid=10624133&con_type=1&d_str=20061031&sear_year=2006
accessdate = 2006-11-01 ] Fok vigorously denied weapons trafficking, but admits having violated sanctions by smuggling steel and rubber as well as other items.

He was the President of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the President of the Hong Kong Football Association, and the President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong. He was also the Chairman of Henry Fok Estates Ltd and the Yau Wing Co of Hong Kong.

Political

Before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Henry Fok was a member of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the vice-chairman of the Preliminary Working Committee of Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong SAR, and the vice-chairman of the Preparatory Committee of Hong Kong SAR. He was also Standing Committee member of 7th National People's Congress.

The press frequently reports that Henry Fok had introduced Tung Chee Hwa to Jiang Zemin as a possible candidate of the first Hong Kong Chief Executive.

Henry Fok helped Tung Chee Hwa out of a near-bankruptcy of his family's Orient Overseas Container Line in the 1980s. Because of this relationship, it was often said while Tung was the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that Fok 'intervened/advised' if times, or rather Beijing, called for it.

Philanthropy

Henry Fok founded the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in 1984, and it is now one of the largest philanthropic organizations in Hong Kong. Fok founded a high-technology business park in Nansha. He is said to have visited the site more than 500 times, and through the Foundation, pledged HK$800 million (US$100 million) to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2005 to support the initiative. [cite web
title = $800m to Support Strategic Plan and China Initiatives
date = 27 July 2005
url=http://www.ust.hk/en/pa/e_pa050726-1545.html
publisher = Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
accessdate = 2006-11-01 ]

Personal

Among Fok's children, the best-known are:
* Timothy - Hong Kong Football Association chairman and Legislative Council member.
* Ian - Managing Director, Yau Wing Co. Ltd.; Director, Fok Ying Tung Foundation Ltd, whose son was convicted for drug possession in 2005.
* Thomas Fok - son of Fok's second wife Ana Fung worked at the family firm; served five months in US detention center in 1991 for conspiracy to tranship 15,000 AK47 assault rifles, to the Croatian Government to fight Serbia, without obtaining an import licence in the United States.
* Benjamin C.Y. Fok

Death

On 28 October 2006, Fok died at the age of 83 at the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, where he was being treated for cancer. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1984 and the cancer reappeared in 2004. His body was flown back to Hong Kong for a traditional funeral in accordance with his wishes. Fok is the third Hong Kong person to have his casket draped in the Chinese national flag since the handover. [cite web
last = Cheng
first = Jonathan
title = Flag honor as Henry Fok comes home for final time
publisher = The Standard
date = 1 November 2006
url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30751&sid=10640184&con_type=1&d_str=20061101&sear_year=2006 | accessdate = 2006-11-01 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/SZFW.html short bios at Forbes]
* [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=30586&sid=10611372&con_type=3&d_str=20061030&sear_year=2006 Commentary in The Standard on Henry Fok's life]