Statement from President Professor Stephen J. Toope
on the death of David C. Lam
It is with sadness that members of the University of British Columbia learned of the loss this week of a great university friend, David C. Lam.
David Lam was a major contributor to UBC and our province. After immigrating from Hong Kong in 1967, he soon enrolled in evening courses at UBC’s Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. He went on to have a very successful career in real estate development, and throughout his life supported UBC in many ways.
He established an endowment that launched the David Lam Management Research Library in the Sauder School of Business. He later established the David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education in the UBC Faculty of Education.
In 1987 UBC awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws. In 1988 he was sworn in as B.C.’s first ethnic Chinese lieutenant-governor. He was also awarded both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.
On behalf of the UBC community, I wish to extend our condolences to the Lam family and express my deep gratitude for his many contributions, which have had a profoundly positive impact in our province.