Making Waves Campaign: Donor Stories – The Lee Family
Researchers at the University of St Andrews are exploring some of society’s most pressing challenges. They are helping to protect our planet and people around the world through projects that range from pioneering work on low-power computing to help reduce the environmental impact of modern AI, to collaborations with medical science to improve early diagnosis of dementia.
The Digital Nexus building is one of two capital projects in the Making Waves Campaign – the other being the creation of ‘New College’ as a home for the future stars of geopolitics and global business.
The Digital Nexus building will mark the first step in the University’s significant investment in our Science and Medicine Campus over the next 20 years. It will create a landmark resource for the Sciences at St Andrews and a new home for Computer Science, housing cutting-edge technology and study facilities that reflect the most recent advances in teaching, learning and research.
We are delighted to announce a generous gift from the families of Philip and George Lee of the Lee family in support of the Digital Nexus building. Their recent donation of over HK$4m builds upon the family’s previous giving to postgraduate scholarships and prizes, including the Sir Lee Quo-Wei Postgraduate Prize in Finance, the George and Stella Lee Scholarship, and to the Philip Lee Computing Lab in the School of Computer Science, in memory of St Andrews alumnus Philip Lee (BSc 1973).
Philip and his brother George Lee (MA 1973) came to the University of St Andrews from Hong Kong on the recommendation of a family friend – Philip to study a joint degree in mathematics and computer science, and George to study economics.
The brothers flourished at the University, embracing every opportunity that was on offer, from sports such as basketball and tennis to participating in the Kate Kennedy Procession.
After graduating from St Andrews, Philip and George joined the family business, working with their father Sir Lee Quo-wei, a prominent Hong Kong businessman, chairman of Hang Seng Bank and co-founder of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, which promotes the development of science and technology in China.
Philip Lee’s daughter Joanna is a Trustee of the Hong Kong Foundation and sits on the Making Waves Campaign Committee on behalf of the Lee family. She said: “St Andrews really inspired my father, and my uncle. It had a huge impact on them. It was at the University of St Andrews that they truly blossomed and found their respective passions.
“I am proud to be able to support the Digital Nexus building and the Making Waves Campaign in honour of my late father, Philip, and on behalf of our family.
“Reputationally, this project will put St Andrews firmly on the map for science and maths, including computer science. With the additional research that it will enable, St Andrews as a university will be able to compete on a level playing field with other globally leading institutions. It’s a very exciting project and a very exciting time to be involved.”