Bulletin Number One 1983

Mr. Ho T im, OBE, JP The economy of Hong Kong has developed with great rapidity in the past few decades, and changes in its social structure have also been wide and far-reaching. During this period the Hang Seng Bank has transformed itself from a traditional money-changer to a financial giant, providing stability as well as impetus to the economy of Hong Kong. And a key figure who engineered this transformation has been none other than the far-sighted and capable Mr. Ho Tim. Mr. Ho is a Managing Director of Hang Seng Bank Ltd., as well as the director of sixteen other prominent business concerns, but his interests and achievements are not confined to business and finance. His dedication to public service is well-known and widely admired, and in order to give support to different voluntary agencies and worthy individuals, he has established the Ho Tim Foundation. As the donor who gave generously towards the founding of the S.K.H. Kei Hau Secondary School, and as the Director of the Gold and Silver Exchange Society School, he has also given much support to education. In 1963 he joined the United College Fund-Raising Committee, setting the project in motion, and became a Trustee of the College in the following year; he then served on the United College Endowment Fund Committee when it was established in 1973, and through active fund-raising and prudent investment, the Fund has now exceeded ten million in value. The rapid growth of United College during the past two decades would not have been possible without the support of its Board of Trustees and the Endowment Fund Committee, and on both Mr. Ho has made notable contributions. Over the years Mr. Ho has contributed generously to scholarship funds of the constituent Colleges of the University, either in person or through the Ho Tim Foundation. This year the Ho Tim and Ho Yin Foundation has made a further substantial donation for promoting research at the University. His civic leadership was recognized through his appointment as a Justice of the Peace in 1965 and the award of an QBE in 1977. Mr. Ho is quiet and unassuming to the point of self-effacement. When complimented on his beneficenc to education and to the community at large, he would invariably reply with modesty that he was merely fulfilling a pleasant duty. From the vantage point of this rostrum I can see Pi-Ch'iu Building, donated by the Ho brothers, and above it the campus of United College. It is also my pleasant duty indeed, Mr. Chancellor, to request your Excellency to award Mr. Ho Tim the degree of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa. 4 NEWS