DAB politician, TV personality dies, aged 56
Television star turned pro-Beijing politician David Lau Chi-wing has died after a long battle with heart disease.
Lau, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, who was a Yau Tsim Mong district councillor, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Thursday, aged 56. The cause of death was pneumonia.
DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung said his death was a big loss for the party.
In November's district council election, Lau defeated four other candidates to win re-election in the Jordan East constituency.
Earlier last year, he hosted an election rally for Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who was at the time seeking re-election in the chief executive election.
Chung Kong-mo, the chairman of Yau Tsim Mong District Council, said Lau had long suffered from health problems.
Before beginning his career in politics, Lau was a popular actor in soap operas on ATV in the early 1980s, having followed his father into the entertainment industry.
He later became a television host and made his first, failed, foray into politics in 1996.
He quit the industry and won election to the council in 1999.
