Media

HKU mourns the death of Dr Robert Tam Yick Fong

01 Apr 2004

 

The University is saddened to learn that one of our most generous benefactors, Dr Robert Tam Yik-fong, has passed away at the great age of 103 years.

Dr Tam was renowned as man who used his good financial fortune to help those less fortunate. A true believer in education and its power to change lives he became a well-known philanthropist.

Four years before his retirement from the Hang Seng Bank he set up his own corporation, Robert YF Tam Enterprises Ltd to deal with foreign investments

He built up his fortune through wise investment and made it his mission to contribute towards the betterment of his country through education.

He donated the Hong Kong Room at the International House of Needy Students in New York. Moved by his desire to help Chinese students, he established the Tam Yik Fong Scholarship Fund at Columbia Business School solely for the benefit of scholars from the mainland. He also contributed towards the building of a middle school in Tuen Mun in memory of his mother.

An alumnus of HKU his generosity to this University was astounding. In 1985 he donated $5 million to establish the Robert Tam Library Endowment Fund, and in 1988 added another $6 million to the contribution.

In recognition of his generosity the University's Tam Villas and Pine Court were named after his family. In 1995, when the University Foundation for Educational Development and Research was established he donated $1 million and became a Founding Director. The donation was followed by another $50 million to support the library.

The University was very proud to award Dr Tam an Honorary University Fellowship in 1996 and to confer upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences in 1998.

The University offers its deepest condolences to Dr Tam's family.