Sir Dickson Poon (; born 19 June 1956) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

businessman in the

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...

goods retailing sector. Poon is the executive chairman of his Hong Kong based and

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

company

Dickson Concepts Dickson Concepts (International) Ltd. (DCIL) is a Hong Kong based luxury goods company. It has held the distributorship of Ralph Lauren products in Asia for more than 20 years. The company is controlled by its founder and Executive Chairman Dick ...

(DCIL), which owns companies including

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

and

S. T. Dupont S.T. Dupont is a French manufacturing company based in Paris, which has been making luxury goods since its founding in 1872. Products commercialised include handbags, lighters, collectible pens, perfumes (produced under license by ''Interparfum ...

. Through trusts, he controls 40.13% of the voting capital of DCIL as of 31 March 2008.

Film

Along with

Sammo Hung Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...

, Poon founded D&B Films Co., Ltd which released action and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

motion pictures such as the '' In the Line of Duty'' series, ''

Hong Kong 1941 ''Hong Kong 1941'' () is a 1984 Hong Kong war drama film directed by Po-Chih Leong, produced by John Shum and written by Sammo Hung. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Cecilia Yip and Alex Man. For his performance in this film, Chow was awarded his fir ...

'', ''

Legacy of Rage ''Legacy of Rage'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong action film directed by Ronny Yu. The film stars Brandon Lee in his feature film debut, Michael Wong, Regina Kent and also features a cameo appearance by Bolo Yeung, who appeared in Brandon's father B ...

'' and more than 50 other titles. The company's last production, "Black Cat II: Assassination of President Yeltsin" (Hei mao zhi ci sha Ye Li Qin), was in 1992.

Personal life

Poon's first marriage was to

Marjorie Yang Marjorie Yang Mun-tak GBS (; born 1952) is Chairwoman of Esquel Group, a Hong Kong-based textile and apparel manufacturer with operations throughout the world, producing over 110 million cotton shirts every year for well-acclaimed brands and ...

, daughter of Hong Kong textile magnate Y. L. Yang ( Yang Yuan-Loong), and chairwoman of the

Esquel Group Esquel Group () is a Hong Kong-based textile and apparel manufacturer. It is the world's largest woven shirt maker, producing about 100 million shirts annually. Esquel supplies textile to companies such as Li-Ning, Li Ning, Anta Sports, ANTA Spo ...

. They have a daughter, Dee Poon Chu-ying (). In 1984, Poon's company signed the then-21-year-old

Miss Malaysia Notable winners of Miss Malaysia * Tengku Zanariah Tengku Ahmad (Miss International Malaya 1960) – Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia from 1984 to 1989. *Yasmin Yusoff (Miss Universe Malaysia 1978) – veteran actress, singer, radio presen ...

Michelle Yeoh Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, ( ; born 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian actress. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early Hong Kong films, she rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in a series of Hong Kong action films where she performed her own ...

, to appear in a television ad opposite

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

. That appearance, with Poon's help, subsequently helped to launch Yeoh's motion picture career with the 1985

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...

Yes, Madam Yes, Madam may refer to: * ''Yes, Madam'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Yes, Madam'' (1942 film), an Italian romance film * ''Yes, Madam'' (1985 film), a Hong Kong action film * ''Yes, Madam? ''Yes, Madam?'' is a 1938 British musica ...

''. Four years later, in February 1988, Yeoh suspended her movie career to marry Poon. She resumed it three-and-a-half years later when the couple separated in 1991. He married his third wife Kwai-chu "Pearl" Yu in 1992. They have four children, daughters Daryl and Dana and sons Pearson () and Dexter. Pearson, a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

graduate, was appointed as an Executive Director of Dickson Concepts on 14 December 2018.

Academic gifts

In November 2010 Poon donated 10 million to

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

for the construction of the Dickson Poon China Centre, which will bring together, for the first time, academics from a range of research interests related to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, provide accommodation for the college's postgraduate students, and house the Chinese Collection of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

. Poon's donation to St. Hugh's College was followed two years later by a 20 million GBP donation to

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

to fund the existing law faculty. It was the largest donation by an individual to the University in its history. In recognition of his donation, the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

was renamed

The Dickson Poon School of Law The Dickson Poon School of Law is the law school of King's College London, itself part of the federal University of London, and serves as one of the nine schools of study within the college. It is situated on the Strand in the East Wing of Some ...

Awards

Dickson Poon was knighted in the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to business and charity, especially higher education.2015 New Year Honours List

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poon, Dickson 1956 births Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Chinese businesspeople in fashion Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Hong Kong chief executives Living people Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Fellows of King's College London