Raymond Lee, 90, a prominent Chinese-American businessman who founded a major food distribution company and created the Chinese American Museum of Chicago and Ping Tom Memorial Park, died on August 31, leaving enduring legacies in Chicago’s Chinatown community.
On August 31st, Raymond Lee, a Chinese American entrepreneur and community leader and a key founder of the Chicago Chinatown Museum and Tam Ping Memorial Park, passed away from natural causes at the age of 90. Born in Guangzhou in 1934, Lee arrived in Chicago at the age of 15 as a paper boy. He began working as a warehouse clerk at Quong Yick & Co., his father’s food company. He and his wife, Jean, later founded the King’s Country Store, which eventually grew into a major food distribution company that wholesaled Asian products to the Midwest. As Chairman of the Chinese American Development Corporation, Lee and his friend, Ping Tom Tam, co-led the transformation of a 32-acre former railroad freight yard into the Chinatown Plaza complex, including the construction of Chinatown Square, the largest expansion project in Chinatown. One of Lee’s most significant achievements was the founding of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago. In 2005, he donated the entire $660,000 to purchase the former Quong Yick site, where he had worked and lived in his youth, making the museum a reality.
After a fire in 2008 destroyed numerous artifacts at the museum, he immediately helped secure a loan for its reconstruction. In 2015, with the assistance of Chuimei Ho, one of the founders and first president of the Chicago Chinatown Museum Foundation, he wrote his memoir, Growing Up in Chicago’s Chinatown: The Stories of Raymond Lee. The book was published by the Chicago Chinatown Museum and a Chinese version will be released soon.
Source: UCA Weekly, Chicago Tribute , CAM of Chicago