The Globe and Mail - 13.03.2020

B18 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH13,2020

V

isionary investor, bridge
builder between communi-
ties and cultures, philan-
thropist, Canada’s first university
chancellor of Chinese ancestry,
benefactoroftheUniversityofBrit-
ish Columbia, Robert Lee helped
shape the built environment of
Vancouver through astute finan-
cial judgment, persistence and re-
markable interpersonal skills. He
made his way from the city’s Chi-
natown, where he was born in 1933
andwherehisfathercuthishairby
placing a rice bowl on his head, to
the exclusive British Properties
where he raised his own family
with his wife, Lily.
The early years of his career as a
real estate broker coincided with
the run-up to the handover of
HongKongtoCommunistChinain

1997. That looming event worried
      Hong Kong’s wealthy business
      people, and greatly increased the
      allure of Canada. Having spoken
      Cantonese from childhood with
      his immigrant parents, Mr. Lee be-
      came the lynchpin between Asian
      investors and Vancouver commer-
      cial real estate owners.
      Mr. Lee died on Feb. 19, in Van-
      couver General Hospital of glio-
      blastoma, an aggressive brain can-
      cer, at the age of 86.
      While he amassed great person-
      al wealth, his proudest achieve-
      ment brought him no financial
      gain. It was the creation of UBC
      Properties Trust, over the opposi-
      tion of pessimists and naysayers,
      which enabled his beloved alma
      matertoblossomfromaprovincial
      commuter campus dotted with
      parking lots to a high-density uni-
      versity village of apartment build-
      ings, townhouses around
      courtyards, shops, bike repair
      places, restaurants and cafés.
      These new developments, built on
      land leased to developers for 99
      years, have brought in an enor-
      mous amount of money to beef up
      theuniversity’spaltryendowment
      fund. UBC’s $2-billion endowment
      nowexceedsthatofMcGillUniver-
      sity ($1.65-billion) and is inching
      towardthatoftheUniversityofTo-
      ronto ($2.5-billion).
      “You wouldn’t believe the criti-
      cism. A lot of people just thought
      we were commercializing the uni-
      versity, ruining it,” said Martha
      Piper, who was president of UBC
      for 10 years beginning in 1997.
      “WhenIcametherewerenoplaces
      to eat after classes or have a drink
      and be part of a community. We
      neededthat.LookatOxford:There
      is no town and gown. It’s all one
      thing.”
      Mr. Lee, whom everyone called
      Bob,hadfirstproposedleasingout
      some of UBC’s vast land holdings
      formarkethousingwhenhejoined
      its Board of Governors as a volun-
      teer in the mid-1980s. He noted
      how the university was underuti-
      lizing the prime lands at the west-
      ern tip of the city that the provin-
      cial government had given it in the
      early years of the 20th century. But
      it took a decade for the concept to
      bear fruit.
      “He was an amazing man – so
      generous with his time and exper-
      tise. I never heard a negative word
      from him about anyone,” Dr. Piper
      recalled in an interview.
      Robert Horne Lee was born in
      Vancouver on June 2, 1933, the fifth
      ofsevenchildrenofChineseimmi-
      grants Ron Bick Lee and King
      Choon Gin. Fleeing poverty and
      disorder, his father had arrived in
      “Gold Mountain” in 1911, aged 19,
      from a village in the Pearl River
      Delta. Three years later, the man
      who would become Bob’s father
      went home to an arranged mar-
      riage but couldn’t bring his wife to
      Canada under the exclusionary
      immigration laws of the time. For
      14years,KingChoonGinremained
      behind, living with her mother-in-
      law until she was able to cross the
      ocean under a false name. By then,
      Bick had established the export-
      import business Foo Hung in Chi-
      natown on Vancouver’s East Pen-
      der Street, where each of his chil-
      dren, once they were old enough,
      was expected to pitch in on week-
      ends and summer holidays. Here
      his second son, Bob, learned the

rudimentsofbusinessbywatching

his father, the way he kept meticu-

lous records and knew everybody,

respected everybody and was re-

spected in turn.

In Chinatown your clan and

yourfamilycamefirst.Bickwasthe

president of the Lee Benevolent

Association, which had its head-

quarters in the Foo Hung building.

His main supplier in Hong Kong

was his brother Yick Bun Lee, who

arranged regular shipments of

bamboo ware, tea, rice, Chinese

herbs, mah jong sets and other

Asian necessities. In Chinatown,

people did not do business with

strangers.

As opportunities arose, Bick al-

so quietly bought real estate in the

neighbourhood. He worked 14

hours a day and prospered, taking

hissevenchildrenonoutingsevery

Sunday in his glossy black sedan.

He moved them to the Fairmont

neighbourhood on the other side

of False Creek where the schools

werebetter;afterschool,theywent

to Chinese classes.

Accordingtofamilylore,record-

ed in the book titledRobert H. Lee,

produced by the Echo Storytelling

Agency of Vancouver, the young

Bob Lee was a mediocre student

and, in 1951, barely qualified to en-

ter UBC.

One evening, now in the com-

merce program, he went bowling

ed revenue.

Bob had ambitions beyond the

family business and after three

years, he had a difficult conversa-

tion with his father. Bick accepted

his decision to leave.

Hetookacourseinappraisalsin

1961 in the U.S., and started work-

ingatH.A.Roberts,acompanythat

handledsales,insurance,mortgag-

es and property management in

commercial real estate. At first he

hadnoclients,butsoonhelearned

the business and built relation-

ships. Bankers started to refer

Asian investors, since he was the

only commercial real estate expert

who spoke Cantonese.

In1964,Bobgotalotofpublicity

whenhesoldthe263-unitImperial

Tower in Vancouver, then owned

by future mayor Tom Campbell, to

a shipping magnate from the Phi-

lippines, though the building had

not been for sale. The next year, he

sold one of the largest buildings in

West Vancouver, the Bayview

Apartments,toaHongKonginves-

tor. In 1967, he was appointed to

the board of H.A. Roberts.

He befriended other self-made

real estate stars such as the engi-

neer Jack Poole and developers Pe-

ter Wall and Peter Redekop. When

the latter two set up Wall & Rede-

kop Realty in 1968, they invited Mr.

Lee to be the third partner. Having

earnedthetrustofAsianinvestors,

Mr. Lee soon brokered the sale of

Capilano Mall in North Vancouver,

to Charlie Shon of Okinawa, Japan,

and of the Lord and Lady Simcoe

towersandPrincessPatriciaApart-

ments in Victoria to a Hong Kong

client. When Wall & Redekop went

public in 1969, Mr. Lee became

president of the firm.

In 1979, when he had been 11

years with the company (now

namedWallFinancial)andhisown

assets had grown substantially, he

struck out on his own, founding

Prospero International Realty,

now run by his son Derek. Its focus

is on buying, selling and managing

commercial properties in B.C.

The new venture got off to a

rocky start, with the recession just

around the corner. In the mid-80s,

real estate was not selling – not in

Vancouver or Montreal or Hous-

ton, Tex., where Bob Lee also had

property. He was forced to move

Prosperofromitssleekofficesback

to the old Foo Hung building,

which his family still owned.

The market did recover, and the

third act of Mr. Lee’s life was about

to begin. In 1984, he joined UBC’s

board ofgovernors. “Times were

toughforuniversitiesinthe1980s,”

recalledMs.McCaw,vice-president

of development at UBC, who had

first met him then.

When Mr. Lee proposed the

leasing of university land for 99

years to developers for market

units,theboardassuredhimitwas

insanely risky: Local developers

wouldn’t consider building on

land they didn’t own outright and

the public would never buy into it.

Afterendlessdiscussion,theboard

agreed to a pilot project of 11 build-

ing lots to be called Hampton

Place. But when the lots were of-

feredtoB.C.developers,therewere

no takers. Bob called a prominent

developer friend, a member of the

Tso family in Hong Kong, who was

immediately interested and took

the first lot.

Four years later, in 1992, at a

meeting of the UBC Real Estate

Corporation (later called UBC

Properties Trust, which Mr. Lee

chaired for 27 years), the builder

made an announcement that

caused the room to erupt in

cheers: Thames Court, the first

phase in Hampton Place, although

only half finished, had completely

sold out. Mr. Lee later called it the

best moment of his life.

He became adviser to the uni-

versity’s ambitious president Da-

vidStrangway,ageophysicisthired

away from U of T who had worked

forNASA.Dr.Strangwaysupported

the land lease idea. He wanted to

add new research institutes, hire

the most brilliant profs and culti-

vate links with universities around

the Pacific Rim. “Bob was giving

him the resources to sustain that,”

said Dr. Piper, who followed Dr.

Strangway. The leases increased

the endowment by $1.7-billion,

and are still selling.

“The land endowment is now a

cash endowment – it’s an asset for

the university in perpetuity,” Ms.

McCaw said. “After that, other uni-

versities were calling us: Tell us

how you did it?

“Bobwasaconnectorandabril-

liantrelationshipbuilder.Heintro-

duced the Chan family to [Dr.

Strangway]andtheyendedupgiv-

ing $30-million to build the Chan

CentreforthePerformingArts.But

he worked behind the scenes. He

did not seek the limelight. He

made everyone feel special and he

had time for everybody.”

For four years, Mr. Lee served as

UBC’s chancellor. He helped fund

the graduate school of business

and alumni centre (both named

for him), gave generously to the

YMCA, Vancouver General Hospi-

tal,theChinatownFoundation,the

Robert and Lily Lee Family Com-

munityHealthCentreonVancouv-

er’s east side and many other com-

munity organizations. Honours

rained down including the Order

of Canada, the Order of British Co-

lumbia and an honorary degree.

In addition to Lily Lee, his wife

of 62 years, he leaves four children,

Carol, Derek, Leslie and Graham;

eightgrandchildren;andthreesib-

lings, Maye, Mary and Bill.

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

with friends and met Lily Dong, a

beautiful nursing student raised in

Alert Bay where her Chinese par-

entsranagrocerystore.Shewas16,

having skipped a grade in high

school; she was later voted Home-

coming Queen. The two soon be-

came an item.

In August, 1957, they celebrated

their marriage with a glittering re-

ception at the Hotel Georgia, and

banquets at two Chinese restau-

rants. Carol, the first of their four

children, arrived the next year.

Having graduated from UBC

with a degree in marketing and fi-

nancein1956,BobLeenoticedthat

his white classmates were receiv-

ing multiple job offers while he re-

ceived only one, from Canada

Packers. He felt hurt, but took the

accountingpositionoffered.Ayear

later, his father suffered a heart at-

tack at 65 and demanded that Bob

returntolookafterthefamilybusi-

ness. (Told by doctors that he

would live no more than 10 years,

Bick lived to 102. )

Bob took over management of

his father’s assets, transferring

them to a family holding company

for estate-planning purposes.

Whenhediscoveredthathisfather

had a large amount of cash, he in-

vesteditbuyingseveralbuildings–

awrongmovethatturnedouttobe

a learning experience. He didn’t

buyrealestateagainunlessityield-

VISIONARYHELPEDUBC

TURNITSLANDINTOMONEY

AftermakinghisfortuneasarealestatebrokerinVancouver,hesharedhisexpertise

withtheuniversityandeventuallyservedfouryearsaschancellor

ROBERTHORNELEE

BUSINESSMAN,PHILANTHROPIST,LEADER,86

JUDYSTOFFMAN

RobertHorneLee,seen

abovein1993,became

thefirstpersonof

Chineseancestryin

Canadatobenameda

universitychancellor.

Left:Mr.Lee’sproposal

toleaseUBClandto

developersformarket

unitswasinitially

deemedrisky,butledto

thedevelopmentof

HamptonPlace.Whenit

wasonlypartlyfinished,

ithadcompletelysold

out.

ABOVE:UBCARCHIVES

PHOTOGRAPHCOLLECTION;

LEFT:PERRYZAVITZ

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