Chinn Ho (26 February 1904 – 12 May 1987) was an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, businessman,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and self-made millionaire who pioneered Asian involvement in the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an business community.

Career

For generations before the rise of Ho, the business community in Hawaii was controlled by a small group of white family business interests. Ho was able to overcome the conservative business conditions and "cracked Hawaii's bamboo curtain and gained a toehold in the haole establishment; he was the first Oriental named a trustee of one of Hawaii's landed estates, the huge Robinson estate, a bastion of Hawaiian conservatism." In 1944, Ho founded the ''Capital Investment Company'' with $200,000. Three years later, he bought $1.2 million of stock in the

Waianae Waianae () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 13,614. Its name means "waters of the mullet". Its etymology is shared with the far northern Wellington subu ...

Sugar Company, the first time an Asian had executed such a large purchase. In 1959, he bought the Ilikai, Hawaii’s biggest condominium-apartment project, and transformed it to Hawaii’s first high-rise luxury resort when it opened in 1964. The building is featured in the balcony scene during the opening credits of the TV show ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

''. (One of the fictional detectives in the series was named

Chin Ho Kelly Chin Ho Kelly is a fictional character from CBS' '' Hawaii Five-O''. He was portrayed by Kam Fong in the original show from 1968 to 1978, and later by Daniel Dae Kim in the series' remake from 2010 to 2017. ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968–1978) In th ...

). He was the head of the Honolulu Stock Exchange, the first Asian president of a Triple-A professional baseball team, the

Hawaii Islanders The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987. Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played ...

, the first Asian trustee of a landed estate, and the first Asian director of Theo H. Davies & Co., one of the influential “Big Five” group of former

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s that were deeply involved in Hawaiian politics. In 1961, he purchased the ''

Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honolulu Advertiser''). ...

'', becoming the first Asian board chairman and sole owner of a major Honolulu daily newspaper. In 1968, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

. Known for his philanthropy, he was dubbed the "Chinese

Rockefeller Rockefeller is a German surname, originally given to people from the village of Rockenfeld near Neuwied in the Rhineland and commonly referring to subjects associated with the Rockefeller family. It may refer to: People with the name Rockefeller fa ...

." Ho was popularly considered to be the inspiration for the character Hong Kong Kee in

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

's novel, ''

''. He died on 12 May 1987, due to heart failure.

Family

He was born Ho Chin. His father is Ho Ti Yuen and his mother is Ho Kam Lan. He changed his name to Chinn Ho later, to adopt the Western practice of placing the surname last. He married Betty Ching on 13 October 1934 and had six children. # Stuart Tse Kong # Dean Tse Wah # Karen Seu Han (Mrs. Stanley Hong) # John Tse Nien # Robin Seu Moy (Mrs. John Lee) # Heather Seu Chinn (Mrs. Malcolm Lee)

References

External links

Chinese American Heroes: Chinn Ho
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Chinn American people of Chinese descent Businesspeople from Hawaii 1904 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople

Career

Family

References

Further reading

External links