Ken Lee (businessman)
Encyclopedia
Ken Lee was a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

-Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n businessman who co-founded the Bing Lee
Bing Lee
Bing Lee is an Australian retailing company, a chain of superstores specializing in consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately-held electrical retail business in New South Wales with 41 stores and a turnover of about $490 million...

 chain of electronic
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

 stores with his father, Bing Lee. He also served as the company's chairman from 1987 until 2007.

Early life

Ken Lee grew up in a poor rural region of Shandong province in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Lee and his family, including his father, Bing Lee, fled China after the Communist Revolution
Communist revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...

 when he was just 16. They eventually settled in Australia.

Bing Lee stores

Ken and his father, Bing Lee, opened their first Bing Lee
Bing Lee
Bing Lee is an Australian retailing company, a chain of superstores specializing in consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately-held electrical retail business in New South Wales with 41 stores and a turnover of about $490 million...

 store in Fairfield, New South Wales
Fairfield, New South Wales
Fairfield is a western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Fairfield is located 29 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Fairfield and is also partly in the local government...

 in 1957 as an electrical sales and repair store. Lee's first job at Bing Lee was as a repairman and salesman. However, he and his father gradually built the Bing Lee chain from its first store into a multi-million dollar retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

 business.

Bing Lee died in 1987, leaving his son, Ken Lee, as the sole owner and chairman of the Bing Lee company. By 1987, Bing Lee had expanded to 11 stores. There are now over 35 stores located throughout New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 and the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

, as of 2007. The company now has over 700 employees. According to news reports, Ken Lee knew nearly all of his 700 employees by name.

Personal life

Lee had a number of personal interests and hobbies. He was an avid golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

er, snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

 player, fisher and boater.

Family

Lee was married to his wife, Yenda Lee, for 48 years, until his death. The couple had two sons, Lionel and Greg.

Death

Ken Lee died on 21 December 2007, at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
St Vincent's Public Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. Though part of the New South Wales state public health system it remains under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity.-History:...

, aged 75, from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. He was survived by his wife, sons and six grandchildren. His elder son, Lionel Lee, succeeded as head of the company.

External links

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