Founding Donor
Dr. Edwin Siu Hung Leong — Philanthropist In Education and Healthcare
Dr. Edwin S. H. Leong is a global leader in business and philanthropy, whose remarkable record of generosity is rooted in a desire to help support society’s most vulnerable people in Hong Kong and around the world.
Dr. Leong’s landmark gift to the University of Toronto in 2019 advanced the global field of child health by establishing the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children at the University of Toronto in partnership with The Hospital for Sick Children. The Leong Centre uses the groundbreaking science of precision prevention, which combines genomics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and public health data to develop interventions for healthier, happier children. Dr. Leong’s gift of $25 million was the largest to the University of Toronto from outside Canada and came on top of his donation in 2018 to establish the Edwin S.H. Leong Scholarship in graduate studies.
Dr. Leong graduated from the University of Toronto with a master’s degree in computer science in 1974. Today, he is Chairman of Tai Hung Fai Enterprise Co. Ltd. (大鴻輝興業), a diversified property investment and development company he founded in 1977. The company’s success spurred Dr. Leong to establish the Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation (大鴻輝慈善基金) in 2005 to help provide care and medical support for disadvantaged seniors and underprivileged children. The foundation also funds scholarships, fellowships and a professorship for research studies related to healthy aging and paediatrics.
Dr. Leong has also helped establish the Henry G. Leong Community Support Centre for the Elderly to provide one-stop-full-spectrum services to elders with dementia and their caregivers. In addition, Dr. Leong has established five endowed professorships in his father’s name: at Chinese University of Hong Kong, a professorship in gerontology and geriatrics; at Hong Kong University, one professorship in social work and administration and one in neurology; and at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a professorship in seniors’ vision health and another in biomedical engineering.
Having earned his undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Leong gave $24 million to UBC’s Faculty of Medicine in 2018—the largest gift in the school’s history. The gift established the Edwin S.H. Leong Healthy Aging Program, which provides research aimed at helping people live longer and enjoy a better quality of life in later years.