Robert H. Lee earned title of ‘Mr. UBC’ by giving back to school
To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, we are counting down to Canada Day with profiles of 150 noteworthy British Columbians.
When Robert H. Lee first suggested doing something new with real estate in 1987, members of the board of governors at the University of B.C. were skeptical. He wanted to use the university’s holdings to build market housing and generate income for an endowment.
Lee convinced the board, and the following year became the founder of UBC Properties Trust. Since its inception, the trust has generated an endowment of more than $850 million for the university.
“The most important thing we did was to sell the land as leasehold rather than freehold,” Lee said in a story in UBC’s Trek Magazine in 2014. “That means the university still owns the land and can sell it again when the (99-year) lease is up. I feel this made a difference, but may take another 80 years before anyone knows it.”
In recognition of his decades-long commitment to UBC, the new alumni facility was named the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre. The $19.5-million centre is at the corner of University Boulevard and West Mall. Described as the first of its kind in Canada, the centre is meant to be a resource for the university’s 300,000 alumni.
Lee graduated from the Point Grey campus in 1956 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
For his work in a variety of areas for the university, he has been called “Mr. UBC.” In his immediate family, his wife Lily and eight others are all UBC alumni.
Lee, who was born and raised in Vancouver, served as chancellor from 1993-96. He remained chairman of UBC Properties Trust until 2011. He is the founder and chairman of the Prospero Group.
Lee said he learned about paying back from his father, who was born Yat Yee Lee but was known as Bick Lee. He left Guangdong, China, in 1911 for Canada thanks to the financial support of fellow villagers. When he became a successful businessman in Vancouver, he sent money back every year to his village to honour their original commitment to him, according to Trek Magazine.
In the 1960s, businessmen in Hong Kong were worried about a takeover by the Communist Chinese. One of the first to see a potential investment market for real estate in Asia, Lee helped arrange commercial real estate sales in Vancouver. His first was a 263-suite apartment building in the West End.
In 2005, Lee donated $5 million to the Sauder School of Business, which led to the creation of the Robert H. Lee Graduate School. In 2011, Lee donated $2 million to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, which led to the Robert and Lily Lee Family Community Health Centre. Lily, from Alert Bay, graduated with a degree in nursing and worked in public health in the Downtown Eastside.
“We all have a responsibility to give back — whether it is our time, our financial resources, our expertise, or all three,” Lee told The Vancouver Sun. “And I would like to thank my family. It is their money.”