Sir Joseph Edward Hotung (1930 – 16 December 2021) was a Hong Kong businessman, art collector, and philanthropist.

Biography

Hotung was born to Edward Hotung, son of Hong Kong tycoon

Robert Hotung Sir Robert Ho Tung Bosman, (22 December 1862 – 26 April 1956), also known as Sir Robert Ho Tung, was a businessman and philanthropist in British Hong Kong. Known as "the grand old man of Hong Kong" (), he was knighted in 1915 (Knight Bache ...

, in Shanghai in 1930. His brother was

Eric Hotung Eric Edward Hotung CBE (June 8, 1926 – September 20, 2017) was a Hong Kong billionaire businessman, financier, and philanthropist. Biography Hotung was born to Robert Hotung's second son Edward Hotung and Irish woman Mordia O'Shea in 1926 in H ...

. He was educated at St. Louis College in Tianjin, the Catholic University of America, and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, from which he received a LL.B. Hotung began his career at

Marine Midland Bank Marine Midland Bank was an American bank formerly headquartered in Buffalo, New York, with several hundred branches throughout the state of New York. In 1998, branches extended to Pennsylvania. It was acquired by HSBC in 1980, and changed its na ...

, New York, shortly after finishing his education, and returned to Hong Kong, after his father and grandfather died, to start his own business. He was involved in the family's Hong Kong real estate development and investment business, and served as a director of

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

, HSBC Holdings plc, and the Hongkong Electric Company. Hotung was a supporter of many educational institutions. He funded the

Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to offering information, support and learning opportunities to gifted students aged 10–18 years. It was established in 2007. Most of the program ...

with the Government of Hong Kong, endowed a program for Law, Human Rights, and Peace Building in the Middle East at

SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

, funded

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

research at

St George's, University of London St George's, University of London (legally St George's Hospital Medical School, informally St George's or SGUL), is a University located in Tooting in South London and is a constituent college of the University of London. St George's has its o ...

, endowed a post-doctoral fellowship at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and founded the lecture theater at

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Man ...

. He also served as a council member of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the f ...

and a member of the governing board of

. Hotung was a collector of Chinese art, including Chinese jades, porcelain, bronzes, and furniture. A patron of the arts, he was the first chairman of the

Hong Kong Arts Development Council The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC) is a statutory body in Hong Kong tasked with development of the arts in the territory. The ADC was created in 1995, under the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Ordinance, Chapter 472, replacing t ...

and was a trustee of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, where he served as a trustee from 1994 to 2004. He donated the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia and the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery at the museum. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. He received honorary degrees from

, and the

Personal life

Hotung died on December 16, 2021. He had 4 children from a previous marriage to Mary McGinley Hotung.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotung, Joseph 1930 births 2021 deaths Ho family Catholic University of America alumni Alumni of University of London Worldwide Hong Kong philanthropists Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong collectors HSBC people Knights Bachelor