Dickson Poon

Sir Dickson Poon
潘迪生
Born 19 June 1956
Hong Kong
Occupation Founder, Chairman of Dickson Concepts (Int'l) Ltd.
Spouse(s) Yu Kwai-chu, Pearl
Marjorie Yang (divorced)
Michelle Yeoh (1987-1991; divorced)
Children Dee Poon (b. 1983)[1]

Sir Dickson Poon, CBE, SBS (Chinese: 潘迪生; pinyin: Pān Díshēng, also transliterated as Poon Tik Sang) is a Hong Kong businessman in the luxury goods retailing sector. Poon is the executive chairman of his Hong Kong listed company Dickson Concepts (DCIL), which owns companies including Harvey Nichols and S. T. Dupont. Through trusts, he controls 40.13% of the voting capital of DCIL as at 31 March 2008.

Along with Sammo Hung, Poon founded D&B Films Co., Ltd which released action and martial arts motion pictures such as the In The Line of Duty series, Hong Kong 1941, Legacy of Rage and some more than 50 other titles. The company's last production, "Hei mao zhi ci sha Ye Li Qin," was in 1997.[2]

Poon was once married to Marjorie Yang, daughter of Hong Kong textile magnate Y.L. Yang (Yang Yuan-loong), and chair person of the Esquel Group, a cotton shirt-maker founded by her father in 1978.[3]

In 1984, Poon's company signed the then-21-year-old Miss Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh, to appear in a television ad opposite Jackie Chan. That appearance, with Poon's help, subsequently helped to launch Yeoh's motion picture career with the 1985 martial arts film Yes, Madam. Four years later, in February 1988, Yeoh suspended her movie career to marry Poon; then resumed it three-and-a-half years later when the couple divorced in mid-1991.[4]

In November 2010 Poon donated £10 million to St Hugh's College, Oxford for the construction of the Dickson Poon China Centre, which will bring together, for the first time, academics from a range of research interests related to China, provide accommodation for the college's postgraduate students, and house the Chinese Collection of the Bodleian Library.[5]

Poon's donation to St. Hugh's College was followed two years later by a 20 million GBP donation to King's College London to fund the existing law faculty. It was the largest donation by an individual to the University in its history. In recognition of his donation, the law school at King's College London was renamed to The Dickson Poon School of Law.[6]

Poon was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to business and charity, especially higher education.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-watches/article/1119075/profile-dee-poon
  2. ↑ "D&B Films Co., Ltd. [hk]". IMDB. IMDb.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Hong Kong's Marjorie Yang". Business Week, Int'l Edition (Archives). 1998. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Swain, Jon (25 March 2007). "There's no business like Yeoh business". The Sunday Times (of London). Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "St Hugh's College | University of Oxford China Centre". St-hughs.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  6. ↑ "London law school receives 'generous' £20m donation". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 61092. p. N2. 31 December 2014.
  8. ↑ 2015 New Year Honours List

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