22 CAROL LEE

RESTAURANT OWNER; CHAIR, CHINATOWN REVITALIZATION COMMITTEE AND VANCOUVER CHINATOWN FOUNDATION PREVIOUSLY # –24,2017

Carol Lee has worked to stay out of the limelight in the recent battles over Chinatown, but both her fans and detractors say she has been a key force in fighting out-of-character new development in the neighbourhood. Lee, the daughter of real-estate magnate and UBC pillar Bob Lee, has been pouring money and energy into trying to bring back some of the 1970s businesses and charm to the area. She opened a Chinese barbecue restaurant that has proven popular and is working on reopening a former icon, Foo’s Ho Ho Restaurant. She puts on two fundraisers a year for the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, which are becoming more prestigious events all the time, and that has generated enough money to contribute $30 million to a social-housing project on Hastings Street. If that weren’t enough, she’s also working with a team to open a Chinese storytelling centre.