Sir Kenneth Fung Ping-fan,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

KStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

, LLD, DSocSc, JP (; 28 May 1911 – 16 May 2002) was a prominent Hong Kong politician and businessman.

Biography

Fung was born on 28 May 1911 to Fung Ping-shan, a co-founder of the

Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong banking and financial services company, headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and one of two remaining family ...

, with his twin brother Fung Ping-wah. He graduated from School of Chinese Studies at 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 fi ...

in 1931. He took up his family business after his father's death in 1931, becoming the general manager and the director of his family business, the Bank of East Asia. At 28 Fung also established the Fung Ping Fan Group, which in 1975 bought a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

franchise and introduced the fast-food chain to what was then the British colony of Hong Kong. He co-founded the

Ocean Park Hong Kong Ocean Park Hong Kong, commonly known as Ocean Park, is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, animal theme park and amusement park situated in Wong Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan in the Southern District of Hong Kong. It is the second largest th ...

and was a founding chairman of the park. From 1951 to 1960 he was the appointed unofficial member of the

Urban Council of Hong Kong The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

. He was appointed to the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

in 1959, in which he served until 1965. From 1962 to 1972 he was the unofficial member of the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It is ...

. For his public services in Hong Kong, Fung was knighted in 1971. Fung was the founder and president of Hong Kong's World Wide Fund for Nature and was district governor of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

. He was among the first members of the Photographic Society of Hong Kong when it was formed in 1937. He was involved closely in the work of the Scout movement and of the

Y.M.C.A. YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

He is a past commissioner of the

St. John Ambulance Brigade St John Ambulance is the name of a number of affiliated organisations in different countries which teach and provide first aid and emergency medical services, and are primarily staffed by Volunteering, volunteers. The associations are overseen b ...

and was the first chairman of the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

Scheme in Hong Kong. He became a member of the Court of the

in 1948. In 1969 he was given an honorary degree of doctor of social sciences. In 1973 he received the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award. Fung died on 16 May 2002 at the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, aged 92. He married Ivy Kan Shiu-han and was survived by his four sons and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fung, Kenneth Ping-fan 1911 births 2002 deaths Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St. John's Hall, University of Hong Kong Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Members of the Urban Council of Hong Kong Hong Kong bankers Hong Kong philanthropists Bank of East Asia Knights of the Order of St John Officers of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor 20th-century philanthropists