Hong Kong property tycoon Walter Kwok dies, say reports

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Walter Kwok (pictured), the former chairman of Hong Kong developer Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, died early Saturday at the age of 68, said statements from his family and the property company, reported Bloomberg.

“We are saddened to announce the passing of Mr. Walter Kwok, who left this world peacefully on the morning of Oct 20, with his loving family by his bedside,” said the family statement.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Kwok was admitted into the Ruttonjee Hospital after falling unconscious owing to a stroke at his residence at Deep Water Bay in late August.

He was released later transferred to Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, where he received “careful treatment”, his wife Wendy Kwok Lee Ting-wing said in a statement, reported the Hong Kong daily.

“We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to the supportive team of doctors and nurses, as well as to all our relatives, friends and business acquaintances for their loving care and concern,” she added, according to a Forbes report.

“We send our deepest condolences and sympathies to Mr Kwok’s family, relatives and friends,” Sun Hung Kai Properties said in a statement.

Walter had been the chairman of Hong Kong’s largest property developer for almost two decades.

According to the SCMP report, Walter and his brothers Thomas and Raymond, inherited Sun Hung Kai from their father Kwok Tak-Seng in 1990.

Walter was born in 1950 in Hong Kong and earned a master’s in civil engineering from the Imperial College of Science in the UK.

Walter was removed as chairman of Sun Hung Kai in 2008 after a dispute between him and his brothers over control of the company. 

Walter had been running his privately held Empire Group Holdings, which had been developing some projects in partnership with other property companies, reported Forbes.