Frank Tsao
Frank Tsao | ||
---|---|---|
Born | Tsao Wen-king 1925 Hanyu Pinyin Cáo Wénjǐn | |
Wade–Giles | Ts'ao Wen-chin | |
Yue: Cantonese | ||
Jyutping | Cou4 Man4 Gam2 |
Tsao took over his family shipping business in Shanghai and moved it to Hong Kong when the Communists took over China. He founded International Maritime Carriers (IMC Group) in Hong Kong, before moving it to Singapore in the early 1990s.
Tsao helped build Singapore into an international shipping hub, and co-founded
Early life in Shanghai
Tsao Wen-king was born in 1925 in Shanghai, into a moderately wealthy business family.[1] His grandfather started a shipping company on the Huangpu River.[2] His father, George Tsao Ying-yung (曹隱云), continued to run the shipping and import-export business.[1] The family also branched into banking.[3] His mother, Tsao Ng Yu-shun, was an heiress who inherited a major stake of the China National Development Bank. Tsao studied economics at the prestigious St. John's University, Shanghai, and took over the family business when his father "lost interest" in it.[1]
Hong Kong
During the Chinese Civil War, Tsao moved to British Hong Kong in 1947.[1] With the Communist takeover of China in 1949, his family fled to Hong Kong in a hurry,[3] and 30 members of the extended family squeezed into a single house. His parents and two sisters later moved to Brazil.[1] Tsao later recalled the period as "a matter of survival", when he worked desperately to salvage the family business.[3]
In 1949, Tsao co-founded the Great Southern Steamship Company by purchasing an old ship from Singapore.
Southeast Asia
In 1958, Tsao founded Textile Corporation of Malaya, the first textile company in Malaysia, together with other Shanghainese industrialists in Hong Kong. Their main purpose was to circumvent import quotas imposed on Hong Kong's textile industry by Western countries.[4] He later expanded his venture by establishing Malayan Weaving Mills and Malacca Textiles, and developed a close friendship with Mahathir Mohamad, the longest-serving prime minister of Malaysia.[4]
In 1968, Malaysian businessman
Tsao helped build Singapore into an international shipping hub and moved the headquarters of IMC Group to Singapore in the early 1990s.[3] In 1985, on the invitation of the Singaporean government,[8] Tsao and a group of Hong Kong tycoons, including Li Ka-shing, established Suntec City Development, which developed Suntec City in the 1990s.[1][3]
In the mid-1990s, he passed active management of IMC Group, by then a multi-business
Philanthropy
Tsao regularly donated to the Tsao Foundation of Singapore, which he established with his mother in 1993 to help the elderly.[8] He cofounded the Centre for Maritime Studies at the National University of Singapore,[1] and supported maritime education at many Chinese universities, including Dalian Maritime University, Dalian University of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Maritime University, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, as well as Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[9]
Honours
For his contributions to the country's shipping industry, the King of Malaysia conferred Tsao the noble title
In 2006, he was awarded the
Personal life
Tsao was married to Maisie Chow Tsao for seven decades until her death in 2014. They had two sons and two daughters: Calvin (of Tsao & McKown Architects), Mary Ann, Frederick and Cheryd.[1]
On 12 August 2019, Tsao died in Singapore at the age of 94[3] from kidney failure.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jaipragas, Bhavan (14 August 2019). "Frank Tsao, towering pioneer of Asian shipping, dies at 94". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ “船王”曹文锦逝世 享耆寿95岁. China Press (in Chinese (Malaysia)). 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lai, Linette (14 August 2019). "Shipping magnate Frank Tsao dies, aged 94". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-39050-2.
- ^ Kuok, Robert (27 November 2017). "How I launched Malaysia's national shipping line". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ISBN 9780787908171. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ มาลินี เรืองวัฒนกุล (September 1986). "พลิกปูม UNITHAI หนูผู้อาจหาญเด็ดหนวดแมว". Manager (in Thai). Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ a b c Zeng Wanyu 曾琬瑜 (14 August 2019). 新达城发展公司前主席“华人船王”曹文锦逝世. Zaobao (in Chinese (Singapore)). Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-662-44163-3.