Jimmy Minoo Master on life as fourth generation Parsi Hongkonger
Jimmy Minoo Master went from importing Indian textiles to running a Swiss asset firm. Now he plays golf and runs a family charity
MY PARENTS WERE married in Hong Kong in 1949. My mother, who is 98 years old, was also born in Hong Kong, in 1926. I was told by my grandfather that his wife, Tehmi Pheroz Pavri, was the first Parsi married lady to live in Hong Kong on a permanent basis. Prior to that, all married Parsi women were left in Bombay (Mumbai). For some reason, my grandfather, who was already in Hong Kong with his father, brought her out from Bombay after marriage. I think she was all of 17 or 18 years old when she came to Hong Kong, just after the first world war.
I WAS BORN IN St Paul’s Hospital in Causeway Bay in 1955. Dr Samy Pillai, who was a South Indian gynaecologist, was pretty much in attendance for all Indian births at that time. I spent my early years at 32 Wyndham Street. The family had established their residence as well as their office in the same building. The office and the godown were on the ground floor and they lived on the upper floors. Wyndham Street was the main street for commerce as far as the Indian community was concerned.
IN 1957, MY FAMILY moved out of Central and bought an old building in Repulse Bay, a bungalow which we lived in until 1962, when it was torn down and we redeveloped it into a 12-storey apartment building. There were very few clubs in the area and we spent most of our Saturdays and Sundays at the beach. I became a good swimmer and my daughter is a very good swimmer, so obviously she’s got some genes from me.
