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Lee Chin joins pantheon of great North American philanthropists
Al Edwards
Friday, June 08, 2007
The opening of the Michael Lee Chin Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Crystal in Toronto marked an historic occasion and saw the Jamaican- born mutual fund titan join the great North American philanthropists such as JD Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon as a significant benefactor to the arts.
The 175,000 square foot Michael Lee Chin Crystal will be one of the landmarks of Toronto. It is part of the CDN$270 million renovation of the Royal Ontario Museum instigated by Dianne Weston. Lee Chin, lead principal of AIC and Chairman of Jamaica's NCB, is the single largest donor to the project, weighing in with Cdn$30 million. The Michael Lee Chin Crystal came in at a cost of Cdn$135 million.
Designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, the crystal comprises five interlocking, self-supporting prismatic structures that interface with, but are not attached to, the original historic ROM buildings. Libeskind has a reputation for designing eclectic buildings and this one is certainly that. Containing no right angles, it stands as a monument to the meeting of antiquity with perpetuity.
The aluminium and glass-covered Michael Lee Chin Crystal has seven collection galleries on four floors, two special exhibition spaces, new retail and dining facilities, as well as the museum's new main entrance. A large three-storey atrium named after Lee Chin's mother Hyacinth Gloria Chen will host special events.
The Michael Lee Chin story is the stuff of legend.He left Jamaica to study civil engineering at Canada's McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1970. On completing his studies he decided to become a mutual fund salesman and excelled in that arena.
Lee Chin adheres to the Warren Buffett mantra, "Buy, Hold and Prosper". Buffett maintains that investors should buy into strong growth industries and hold them for the long term. This has proven very successful for the Berkshire Hathaway boss, who is the second richest American citizen.
Paying his dues as a salesman, Lee Chin audaciously invested Cdn$500,000 to buy Mackenzie Financial Corporation stock back in 1983. From his profits, she bought a small investment firm called AIC.
Starting with AIC Advantage Fund which contained under Cdn$1 million in assets, Lee Chin was able throughout the 80s and 90s to grow AIC into one of the most successful mutual fund companies in Canada. In 1994 alone, AIC experienced a whopping 34 per cent growth in assets, more than three times the industry growth rate.
At its height, AIC had assets under management of Cdn$14 billion.
In 2002, Lee Chin bought Jamaica's National Commercial Bank for US$160 million. At the time, it was reporting profits of US$6 million. Last year it reported profits of US$86 million.
Over the last five years, Lee Chin has invested approximately US$800 million in the Caribbean. His interests in the region range from financial services, telecoms, health care,real estate and tourism.
Speaking with Caribbean Business Report from Toronto's Park Hyatt Hotel, Lee Chin said: "The opening of the Michael Lee Chin Crystal is, for me, a very humbling moment because I am paying homage to my mother and father in the efforts and sacrifices they made in keeping their family together and setting standards for them. They have not taken a vacation in twenty-nine years and have shown an unwavering commitment to their family. For me this is a great moment in my life because my mother is being saluted by Canada."
Canada's art scene is enjoying a renaissance and the Michael Lee Chin Crystal seems to be a testament to that. Commenting on the new edifice, Lee Chin said: "The building itself steps boldly into the future. It is not conservative and, in fact, deviates from tradition, and any time you do so there is a risk, but Daniel Libeskind pulled it off. With an immigrant's name on the building, it will tell the world that Canada is accepting of everybody and that in this country opportunities abound irrespective of your parentage, colour r background.
"I am blessed to have a stage to expunge Jamaica's reputation as a country of crime and violence, but one where we have a reputation for business acumen, kindness, gentleness and philanthrophy."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines...ANTHROPISTS.asp