Clementina Leitão
Who was the spouse of Stanley Ho from 1957 to 1989?
Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun ( , 25 November 192126 May 2020 ) was a Hong Kong-Macau billionaire businessman . His original patrilineal surname was Bosman , which was later sinicized to 何 ( Ho ) . He was of Dutch-Jewish , English and Chinese ancestry . He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings , which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa . Ho had been nicknamed variously Godfather and King of Gambling , reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 75 years . His wealth was divided among his daughter , Pansy Ho ( $5.3 billion ) who owns MGM Macau , fourth wife Angela Leong ( $4.1 billion ) who is managing director of SJM Holdings , and son Lawrence Ho ( $2.6 billion ) who owns City of Dreams . Ho was the founder and chairman of Shun Tak Holdings , through which he owned many businesses including entertainment , tourism , shipping , real estate , banking , and air transport . It is estimated that his businesses employ almost one-fourth of the workforce of Macau . Apart from Hong Kong and Macau , he also invested in mainland China , Portugal , North Korea where he operated a casino , Vietnam , the Philippines , Mozambique , Indonesia and East Timor . His opinions and statements on Hong Kongs real estate and commercial development had considerable sway on the market . In his later years , he had been involved in litigation with his sister , Winnie Ho , concerning the ownership of the Macau casino . Having suffered a stroke in July 2009 , followed by a long period of recovery , Ho began steps in late 2010 to devolve his grip on his financial empire to his various wives and children . Ho died on 26 May 2020 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital . Early life . Ho was descended from great-grandfather , Charles Henry Maurice Bosman ( 1839–1892 ) , who was of Dutch Jewish ancestry , and his Chinese mistress , Sze Tai ( 施娣 ) a local Baoan ( present-day Shenzhen and Hong Kong ) woman . His grandfather was Ho Fook ( 何福 ) , brother of the great merchant Sir Robert Ho Tung . Ho was the ninth of thirteen children of Ho Sai-kwong ( 何世光 ) . Education . Ho studied at Queens College , Hong Kong , at which he attended Class D - the lowest class level in the then Hong Kong Class System - owing to unsatisfactory academic results . However , he later received a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong . He became the first student from Class D to be granted a university scholarship . His university studies were cut short by the outbreak of World War II in 1942 . Career . Ho began clerical work at a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau . He made his first fortune smuggling luxury goods across the Chinese border from Macau during World War II . In 1943 he set up a kerosene company and established a construction company with his money . Ho , along with partners including Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok , Macau gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip , bid for Macau franchises . By bidding high and promising to promote tourism and to develop infrastructure , they won the public tender for Macaus gaming monopoly license in 1961 , defeating the long-time Macau casino barons , the Fu family , by MOP 17,000 . In 1961 the company was renamed Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau , S.A.R.L . ( STDM ) . Business at its flagship Lisboa Casino Hotel blossomed , the hotel later becoming well known internationally . In the same year , Ho also set up Shun Tak Holdings Ltd , which was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong . Through a subsidiary , TurboJET , it owns one of the worlds largest fleets of high-speed jetfoils , which ferry passengers between Hong Kong and Macau . Hos investments in Macau were diverse . In 1989 , after STDM took full control of the Macau Jockey Club , Ho became its chairman and chief executive officer . In 1998 Ho became the first living Macanese resident to have a local street named after him . He also launched Asias first football and basketball lottery , called SLOT . Ho was named by the Canadian Government , citing the Manila Standard newspaper , as having a link to the Kung Lok Triad ( Chinese mafia ) and as being linked to several illegal activities during the period 1999–2002 . Hos alleged ties to Chinese organized crime have also been reported by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement , citing a U.S . Senate committee and several government agencies , when the state investigated his ties to American casino operator MGM Mirage . Positions held . Business . - Chairman Emeritus without directorship , Shun Tak Holdings Limited ( 信德集團 ) - Chairman , Seng Heng Bank Limited - Director , Shun Tak Shipping Company , Limited - Chairman , iAsia Technology Limited ( 亞洲網上交易科技有限公司 ) - Chairman , the Chinese Recreation Club in Hong Kong ( CRC ) - Founder of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau , SARL ( STDM ) - Chairman , SJM Holdings Limited ( 澳門博彩控股有限公司 ) ( retirement announced in April 2018 ) - Ho also made many other investments , including in venture capital and foreign real estate ( such as in Singapore and London ) . Community . - President of Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong ( 香港地產建設商會 ) - Chairman of the board of directors of the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research ( 香港大學教研發展基金董事局 ) - Member of the Court and Council of the University of Hong Kong ( 香港大學校董會 ) - Member of the Court of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Member of the board of trustees of the - Member of the Council of the University of Macau ( 澳門大學 ) - Founder of the Dr . Stanley Ho Medical Development Foundation ( 何鴻燊博士醫療拓展基金會 ) Politics . In 1987 , Portugal agreed to return Macau to China in 1999 . Ho took part in the joint advisory committee . He was a Standing Committee member of the 9th National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference . Also ; - Member of the Selection Committee for the first Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Member of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR Family . Ho had 17 children born to four women . Ho referred to his childrens mothers as his wives . Polygamy remained legal in Hong Kong until 1971 . In 1942 , Ho married Clementina Ângela Leitão , from the prestigious Portuguese Leitão family ( Chinese:黎登 ) – her grandfather was a lawyer and Macaus only notary public at the time . They had four children . Leitão was involved in a motor vehicle accident in 1973 , and suffered partial memory loss as a result . In 1981 , Hos and Leitãos son Robert and daughter-in-law Suki Potier died in a car accident . Clementina Leitão Ho died in 2004 and was buried in the St . Michael the Archangel Cemetery ( Portuguese : Cemitério São Miguel Arcanjo ) . In the late 1950s , Ho met Lucina Azul Jean Ying née Laam King-ying ( 藍瓊纓 ) and began a relationship . This union was recognized in Macau and Hong Kong at that time due to legacy rulings from the Great Qing Legal Code of the Chinese Qing Dynasty . The relationship resulted in five children including daughters Daisy Ho , to whom Ho ceded the chairmanship of SJM , and Pansy Ho , a 50 percent partner in MGM Macau ; son Lawrence Ho , CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd , another Macau-based casino company ; and Josie Ho ( 何超儀 ) , a rock singer and award-winning actress . Lucinas family now resides in Canada . Ho began a relationship with Ina Chan in 1985 . This union is not legitimate by laws in either Hong Kong or Macau . Hos wife Clementina Leitão needed constant nursing care following her car accident , and Ina Chan was one of the nurses brought in to look after Leitão . Ho and Chan have three children together ; Laurinda Ho , Florinda Ho , and Orlando Ho . In 1988 Ho met Angela Leong On-kei when she was his dance instructor . The couple had four children together : Sabrina Ho , Arnaldo Ho , Mario Ho and Alice Ho . Leong is now an incumbent member of the Legislative Assembly in Macau . Non-linear relations . - Ambassador Eric Hotung , a billionaire grandson of Sir Robert Hotung , was a second cousin of Ho , and had a long-running relationship with Hos sister Winnie Ho – the couple had a son , Michael Ho , but Hotung fell out with his former lover and Michael and sued them for recovery of money allegedly loaned . - Another of Hos sisters , Susie Ho , is the widow of one of his former business partners , Teddy Yip . - According to available records , Bruce Lee and Stanley Ho were second cousins through Lees mother , Grace Ho ( 何愛瑜 ) . Her father , Ho Kom-tong ( 何甘棠 ) , and Hos grandfather , Ho Fook , were maternal half brothers . Ho Kom-tong ( 何甘棠 ) share the same mother , but have a Chinese father Kwok Hing-yin ( 郭興賢 ) . Personal life . Over the years , dancing was one of Hos favourite hobbies and he achieved excellence in the tango , cha-cha-cha , and waltz . He often danced for televised charity fundraisers and sponsored numerous dance performances in Hong Kong and Macau , including the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Macau Arts Festival , promoting the art of dance . He also invited internationally renowned dancing groups , such as the National Ballet of China , to perform in Hong Kong and Macau . Ho was a patron of the Hong Kong Ballet , the International Dance Teachers Association and was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Dance . One of a number of thoroughbred racehorses owned by Ho , Viva Pataca , named after the currency of Macau , won several top Hong Kong races in 2006 and 2007 . In late July 2009 , Ho suffered a fall at his home that required brain surgery . For seven months Ho was confined to the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital and , later , the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital , during which period he made only one public appearance , on 20 December 2009 , when he travelled to Macau to meet Chinese president Hu Jintao on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Macaus return to Chinese sovereignty . Ho was discharged from the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on 6 March 2010 and thereafter employed a wheelchair . Philanthropy . Qing relics . In 2003 , Ho donated a Qing dynasty bronze boars head to Chinas Poly Art Museum , a state-run organisation that aims to develop , display , rescue and protect Chinese cultural relics . The boars head is part of a collection of 12 looted from the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 when it was sacked and burnt by the French and British armies . On 21 September 2007 , Ho donated to the Chinese government a Qing dynasty bronze sculpture of a horses head originally taken from the Old Summer Palace . Ho had reportedly just purchased it from a Taiwanese businessman for US$8.84 million . Lanceford dispute . In late January 2011 , a dispute erupted among his wives and children involving the transfer of ownership of his private holding company , Lanceford . On 27 December Lanceford allotted 9,998 new shares , representing 99.98 per cent of its enlarged share capital , to two British Virgin Islands companies : Action Winner Holdings Ltd , wholly owned by third wife , Ina , holding 50.55 per cent and Ranillo Investments Ltd , equally held by each of Laams five children , holding the balance . The allotment document filed with the Registrar of Companies was signed by Laams daughter Daisy . Ho issued proceedings in the High Court , naming its directors – 11 defendants , including his second and third wives , and children Pansy and Lawrence Ho , alleging the group improperly and/or illegally acted in changing the share structure . The writ sought an injunction restraining the defendants from selling or disposing any of the 9,998 new shares in the company . The two British Virgin Islands companies were also named in the writ . Ho said his intention from the outset was to divide his assets equally among his families and that the actions of the directors of Lanceford effectively eliminated this possibility , according to a statement issued by his lawyer Gordon Oldham . Amidst confusion caused by conflicting statements from Ho and his wives and children about the state of the dispute , Ho , through Oldham – who had been allegedly sacked and rehired within the space of a few days – said he had been pressured to make public statements and sign legal documents without him being fully apprised of their contents . Honours . In 1984 , Ho was awarded an honorary doctorate of social sciences from the University of Macau in 1984 . In the New Year Honours 1990 , Ho was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( O.B.E. ) for services to the community in Hong Kong In 1995 , The Government of Portugal appointed Ho to the Grã-Cruz da Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique ( Great Cross of the Order of Prince Henrique ) , the highest honour for any civilian , for his contributions to society . In 1998 , Dr . Stanley Ho Avenue in Macau was named , the first Chinese person to be so honoured in Macau during their lifetime . In 2003 Ho received the Gold Bauhinia Star from the Chief Executive of Hong Kong , Tung Chee Hwa . In 2008 Ho received the Medal for Business Entrepreneurialism from the city of Cascais and the street running adjacent to the Estoril Casino was renamed as Avenida Stanley Ho . It was the first road in Portugal to be named after a living Chinese citizen . In June 2009 he received the Visionary award at the G2E Asia conference , organised by the American Gaming Association ; the award was delivered by Macau SAR Chief Executive Edmund Ho . In November 2010 , Ho was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal . Death . Ho was in poor health in his last years , and had stayed in hospital since his health deteriorated following a stroke in 2009 . On 25 May 2020 , Ho was reported to be in a critical condition , and he died at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital on 26 May 2020 , at around 1 pm local time . He was 98 .