Honorary University Fellows

Citation delivered by Professor Geoffrey BLOWERS, Acting Dean of Social Sciences

Mr Peter Ka Kit Lee is the Vice Chairman of the Henderson Land Group and of Henderson Investment Limited, and is a Director of the Hong Kong and China Gas Company.

He was an elected National Committee Member of the 9th, 10th and 11th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the CPPCC.

With his expertise in economic development and related policies in China, Mr Lee has also been appointed the Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee for Economic Affairs of the current 11th CPPCC National Committee.

He is the Vice President of the National Association of Vocational Education of China, and an Honorary Patron of the HKU Foundation.

Mr Lee is also a determined and courageous advocate of suicide prevention, tackling a subject that – for all our claims to be a modern, forward thinking society – is still somewhat taboo in Hong Kong.

In 2007, he founded the Peter KK Lee Care for Life Foundation, to promote and support the work of suicide prevention.

One area of interest for him is in helping young people who are at risk for suicide, since suicide is the leading cause of death among them. To do this he has generously funded the ‘Peter Lee Care for Suicide Survivors’ project at the HKU Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention.

Here, again, he has had the courage to face a difficult and neglected issue: what happens to those left behind in the wake of suicidal death, and how can we support and help them?

Mr Lee is not a removed and distant patron. In these and other projects, he has worked closely with members of the Centre, who in turn partner with the police, the social welfare department, non-governmental organisations, and a wide range of community stakeholders.

He has personally met with survivors who have lost loved ones to suicide, and it is in part these deeply personal moments that bolster the strength of his convictions and his determination to do more as a suicide prevention advocate.

In 2008, Mr Lee established the Centum Charitas Foundation and became its Founding Chairman. He is also an Honorary Patron of Hong Kong’s Suicide Prevention Services.

Mr Lee was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2009.

It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Mr Peter Ka Kit Lee for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.