Mr Robert Tam Yik Fong graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930. He returned to mainland China where he served the government in various capacities. In 1945 he entered Columbia Graduate School of Business and went on to be appointed Secretary-Treasurer to Dah Chong Trading Corporation in New York and later Assistant Vice-President and Director. He returned to Hong Kong to join the Hang Seng Bank and became a supervisor of the Bank’s Elementary Programme on Banking Practice and the Education Advisory Service, as well as Director of Studies for the Certificate Course in Banking Management organised in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mr Tam established the Tam Yik Fong Scholarship Fund to the Columbia University Alumni Association of Hong Kong in 1992. Throughout his career he has remained loyal to his alma mater, donating HK$5 million in 1985 to establish the Robert Tam Library Endowment Fund and contributing a further HK$6 million towards the Fund in 1988. In recognition of his generosity the University’s Tam Villas and Pine Court were named after his family. He was awarded an Honorary University Fellowship last year and has recently pledged another HK$50 million to support the University Library.
In recognition of his services to the University of Hong Kong and to education in the territory, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.
