George Ho Cho-chi, GBS, OBE, JP (3 November 1919 – 4 June 2014) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

media mogul A media proprietor, also called a media executive, media mogul, media tycoon, or press baron is an entrepreneur who controls any means of public or commercial mass media, through the personal ownership or holding of a dominant position within a ...

. The fifth son of the influential businessman Robert Hotung, George Ho was the founder of the

Commercial Radio Hong Kong Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK, , also known as Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited, is one of the two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong, alongside Metro Radio Hong Kong. CRHK offers a variety of radio prog ...

and

Commercial Television Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

Family and career

George Ho was the illegitimate son of Robert Hotung, then the most influential Eurasian compradore in Hong Kong, and Kate Archer. George was bequeathed a substantial amount of money directly and indirectly. His grandfather through Robert Hotung was a Jewish Dutch man, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman. George Ho studied at King's College, Hong Kong and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Instead of joining the family flagship company, George Ho founded his own business,

by obtaining a radio broadcasting licence through the connections and HK$50,000 inheritance from his father. George Ho gradually became an influential tycoon in the colony. He branched out into television, founding

in 1975. But the station closed three years later. He had also been director of

Jardine Matheson Holdings Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong–based, Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on ...

Hongkong Land Hongkong Land (HKL) is a property investment, management and development group with commercial and residential property interests across Asia. It owns and manages some 850,000 sq. m. of office and retail property in Asia, principally in Hong K ...

and

Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong public banking and financial services company headquartered in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and o ...

. In 2001, George Ho was awarded a

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the Order (distinction), honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the Handover of Hong Kong, transfer of sovere ...

for his contribution to society. His son, George Joseph Ho, succeeded him as chairman of Commercial Radio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, George 1919 births 2014 deaths Alumni of King's College, Hong Kong Hong Kong businesspeople Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Hong Kong people of Dutch-Jewish descent University of California, Berkeley alumni Ho family

Family and career

See also

References