On Mar. 7, 2018, a $24-million donation to the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) faculty of medicine will expand research aimed at helping people live longer and enjoy a better quality of life in their later years. The donation, from businessman, philanthropist and UBC alumnus Edwin S.H. Leong, was the largest gift that UBC’s medical school had ever received from an individual.

“My wish is for everybody to live long and die peacefully, and I believe healthy aging is the key to that,” said Leong. “This is an investment in people, and I have great confidence that by bringing together and supporting the brightest people in this field, UBC will be able to show us the way.”

The donation, from Leong’s Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong, will establish the Edwin S.H. Leong Healthy Aging Program. The gift enables UBC to recruit the Edwin S.H. Leong UBC Chair in Healthy Aging, the Edwin S.H. Leong UBC Professor in Healthy Aging, and early to mid-career faculty, all supported by trainees and research staff. This gift also will complement and enhance excellence in healthy aging research through collaboration with scientists and clinicians across UBC and around the world.

Recruitment of an internationally recognized researcher to fill the Edwin S.H. Leong UBC Chair in Healthy Aging will begin shortly.

Leong, 66, earned his bachelor of science degree from UBC in 1973 before founding his property development company, Tai Hung Fai Group, in Hong Kong in 1977. His company has built hotels, shopping centres and commercial buildings throughout Hong Kong.