Chan Tseng-hsi (Chinese: 陳曾熙; pinyin: Chén Zēngxī; 1923 – 8 March 1986) was a Hong Kong entrepreneur who founded the Hong Kong-based real estate company Hang Lung Group.[1]
T.H. Chan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Chan Tseng-hsi 1923 |
| Died | 8 March 1986 (aged 62–63) |
| Occupation | Property developer |
| Known for | Co-founder of the Hang Lung Group |
| Children | Ronnie Chan Gerald Chan |
Born and raised in Guangdong, China, Chan moved to British Hong Kong in the 1940s because of the Chinese Civil War. He took an entry-level job in a bank[which?] and eventually built a successful real estate business. According to his son Gerald, he used to loan money to his friends to pay for their children's school fees. His mother was a nurse who, in the 1950s, gave cholera vaccinations to the neighbourhood children in the family kitchen.[2]
After Gerald got a fellowship for his doctoral studies at Harvard, Chan was proud of his son, but disturbed that Gerald was taking the place of someone who couldn't pay. He told a friend, "We have the means to pay tuition. Why is Gerald taking the scholarship away from someone else?"[2]
In 2014, his sons Ronnie and Gerald donated $350 million to Harvard University, which named the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health after him.[2][3] Harvard officials said the money would be used in four areas: pandemics, including obesity, cancer, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa; harmful environments, including pollution and violence; poverty and humanitarian crises; and failing health systems.[3]
In 2021, the Chan family made an unrestricted gift of $175 million to the UMass Medical School, which changed its name to UMass Chan Medical School in recognition of this donation.[4]
In March 2022, the Morningside Academy for Design was founded with a $100 million gift from the Morningside Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the T.H. Chan family.[5]