Tams leave US$29m to Columbia University

Two Hong Kong siblings have left US$29 million to New York's Columbia University.

The funds donated by Hong Kong alumnus Robert Tam Yik-fong and his sister, Tam Wun-tsun, will be used to support programmes across Columbia's arts, sciences and business schools, the university announced this week.

University president Lee Bollinger said the bequests left by Mr Tam, a former banker and investment manager, and his sister would also be used to help launch the Committee on Global Thought programme which will address globalisation issues and extend the CV Starr East Asian Library programmes.

Mr Tam, a graduate of the University of Hong Kong who enrolled in Columbia's Business School in 1945, was also an accomplished painter and patron of the arts, Mr Bollinger said.

After graduating from Columbia, Mr Tam worked at Dah Chong Trading Corp for a decade before returning to Hong Kong in 1957 to join Hang Seng Bank.

Before he retired from the bank in 1976, Mr Tam established his own foreign investment firm. He left a bequest of US$14.2 million when he died in March 2004.