Gary Ho is a Taiwanese-born Canadian businessman, humanitarian, and philanthropist. [1] He is a real estate developer and the CEO of the Canadian chapter of the Tzu Chi Foundation, which he established in 1992. [2]
Before immigrating to Canada in his 40s, he became a successful real estate developer in Taiwan. He is at the helm of the Canadian arm of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a Taiwan-based Buddhist charity with five million members worldwide. Tzu Chi operates in many countries, with 2,100 active volunteers in British Columbia with 8,000 donors. He has directed to donate more than $6 million to the BC Children's Hospital, UBC, Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Salvation Army. He also donated almost $2 million to create the Tzu Chi Institute for Complementary Medicine at Vancouver General Hospital in 1996. [3] He also donated $1 million to the Vancouver General Hospital. [4] [5] He is a devout follower of Venerable Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun and founder of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in the world in 2011, for his volunteerism and commitment as a humanitarian. [6]
Due to business demands, Ho divides his time between Vancouver and Taipei. [7]
The Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, is a Taiwanese international humanitarian and nongovernmental organization. Its work includes medical aid, disaster relief, and environmental work.
Cheng Yen or Shih Cheng Yen (Chinese: 證嚴法師, 釋證嚴; pinyin: Zhèngyán Fǎshī; Wade–Giles: Chêng4 Yen2 Fa3-shih1; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chèng-giâm Hoat-su; born Chin-Yun Wong; the 24th of the third Lunar month, 4 May 1937) is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She is the founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, ordinarily referred to as Tzu Chi, a Buddhist humanitarian organization based in Taiwan. In the West, she is sometimes referred to as the "Mother Teresa of Asia".
Yin Shun was a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Though he was particularly trained in the Three Treatise school, he was an advocate of the One Vehicle as the ultimate and universal perspective of Buddhahood for all, and as such included all schools of Buddha Dharma, including the Five Vehicles and the Three Vehicles, within the meaning of the Mahayana as the One Vehicle. Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of "Humanistic" (human-realm) Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners. His work also regenerated the interests in the long-ignored Āgamas among Chinese Buddhist society and his ideas are echoed by the American Theravadin teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi. As a contemporary master, he was most popularly known as the mentor of Cheng Yen, the founder of Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, as well as the teacher to several other prominent monastics.
Vancouver General Hospital is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilities. VGH is Canada's third largest hospital by bed count, after Hamilton General Hospital, and Foothills Medical Centre.
Tzu Chi Singapore, also the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore), is the Singapore branch of the Tzu Chi Buddhist organisation. The foundation was originally set up by Venerable Cheng Yen and based in Hualien, Taiwan. The present premises of the Singapore branch is located at Elias Road in Pasir Ris, Singapore.
Tzu Chi University (TCU; Chinese: 慈濟大學; Wade–Giles: Tz’u2 Chi4 Ta4-hsüeh2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chû-chè Tāi-ha̍k) is a private university in Hualien City, Hualien County, Taiwan. It was founded by the Tzu Chi Foundation (NGO). TCU has strong ties with Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation as well as five teaching hospitals in other parts of Taiwan.
Buddhism is one of the major religions of Taiwan. Taiwanese people predominantly practice Mahayana Buddhism, Confucian principles, Taoist tradition and local practices. Roles for religious specialists from both Buddhist and Taoist traditions exist on special occasions such as for childbirth and funerals. Of these, a smaller number identify more specifically with Chinese Buddhist teachings and institutions, without necessarily eschewing practices from other Asian traditions. Around 35% of the population believes in Buddhism.
Victoria General Hospital (VGH) is an acute care facility located in View Royal, British Columbia, Canada, a western suburb of Victoria. VGH provides emergency, general surgery and medical treatment services. It is one of two acute-care hospitals on southern Vancouver Island, along with the Royal Jubilee Hospital. VGH is the only one of the two hospitals which provides maternity services.
Peter Wall is a Ukrainian-born Canadian businessman. He is a property developer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who, in the 1990s and 2000s, played a significant and controversial part in the city's real-estate boom. He has been described as "a leading contributor to Vancouver's 'City of Glass' reputation" during a period in which the city's skyline has been transformed, along with its economic and social profile. Rejecting the label "developer", Wall has stated that he "just make[s] some money investing in business ideas and projects".
Bob Rennie is an art collector and a real estate marketer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the founder and executive director of Rennie, a Vancouver based real estate marketing firm. The company's business divisions include Rennie developer services, Rennie consumer services, Rennie advisory services, Rennie rental services and technology. He is known colloquially as the "condo king". Rennie is deeply involved in the art community locally and internationally, and he maintained his own art museum in Chinatown's Wing Sang building until fairly recently gifting it to the Chinese History Society.
The Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC) is a prostate cancer translational research centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a UBC and VGH Centre of Excellence and a designated national Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. The VPC is hosted by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the Department of Urologic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.
Robert H. Lee was a Canadian businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chairman of Prospero, a real estate firm in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Caleb Chan is a Hong Kong-born Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of the International Land Group in San Francisco and of Burrard International Holdings in Vancouver.
Ian Gillespie is a Canadian real estate developer. In 1992 he founded Westbank Projects Corp. based in Vancouver, British Columbia, which now has more than $25 billion of projects completed or under development. The company is active across Canada and expanding into the United States with projects including residential, rental, affordable housing, office, retail, hotels and public art.
Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH is a medical documentary series which premiered on British Columbia's Knowledge Network on January 21, 2014. It follows doctors, nurses and staff at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) as they cope with real patients from the Greater Vancouver Regional District. VGH is the second largest hospital in Canada and British Columbia's only level I trauma centre. Stories of stabbings, car accidents, heart attacks, and life-threatening disease are shown alongside everyday cuts and sprains, drunks, and other minor cases, and episodes contain graphic images of wounds, blood, and/or routine and invasive medical procedures.
The Four Heavenly Kings or Four Great Mountains四大名山 of Taiwan refers to four Buddhist masters in Taiwanese Buddhism who each founded an influential Buddhist institution in the country. The term draws its name from the Four Heavenly Kings who each rule over one of the heavenly realms in Buddhist cosmology. Like the Four Heavenly Kings mythology, each Buddhist teacher corresponds to one cardinal direction, based on where their organization is located in Taiwan. The corresponding institutions of the masters are referred to as the "Four Great Mountains".
The Four Great Mountains of Taiwan refers to a group of four prominent organizations in Taiwanese Buddhism. The term draws its name from the Four Sacred Mountains of China, four mountains in mainland China that each hold sacred Chinese Buddhist sites. The founders of the institutions are collectively referred to as the Four Heavenly Kings of Taiwanese Buddhism. Each of the "Four Heavenly Kings" corresponds to one cardinal direction, based on where their organization is located in Taiwan. The institutions that make up the "Four Great Mountains" of Taiwanese Buddhism are:
Robert Hung-Ngai Ho is a Chinese Canadian-American philanthropist and former journalist.
Taleeb Farouk Noormohamed is a Canadian politician and technology executive who has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver Granville since 2021, sitting as a Liberal. He was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in September, 2023.
Sze-Piao Yang, also spelled as Sibiao Yang, was a Taiwanese physician and pulmonologist who focused on treating tuberculosis and related lung diseases. He acted as dean of the affiliated hospital of the National Taiwan University Hospital from 1978 to 1984. He then served concurrently as the dean of the National Taiwan University School of Medicine from 1983 to 1985, and also as president of the Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology. He is referred to as the "Father of Thoracic X-ray Interpretation in Taiwan" due to his work in establishing the field of research involving X-rays in Taiwan.