Tung Chee Chan was born in southern China and raised in Hong Kong. He was the son of Kar Charn Chan and So Man Yu. At a very young age, he developed a love of the performing arts, which led to him competing in and winning awards at Classical Chinese Poetry Reading competitions. He was also quite the accomplished stage actor while in university.

It was in Hong Kong that Tung Chee met Shoot-Wah Tse at an ice cream shop. After a lengthy and eventful courtship, the two fell in love, and in the early 1970’s, the couple moved to Wisconsin, USA where Tung Chee earned his Master’s Degree in English Literature. It was also in Wisconsin that the couple was wed, making them the first people of Chinese descent to be married in Madison, where they lived.

Soon after, Tung Chee and Shoot-Wah visited friends in Toronto, Canada and fell in love with the city. It didn’t take long for them to move there and begin the immigration process. For the next few years, Tung Chee worked as a social worker and then as a math teacher at the Toronto French School. He also created the first Chinese credit program in Canada while there, the reputation from which allowed him to build his initial inroads into the Chinese community in Toronto.

While Tung Chee loved teaching, he eventually discovered he had a great passion for real estate. He obtained his license, worked several years as a salesperson, and then in 1985, he opened Tradeworld Realty in Chinatown. As a Broker, Tung Chee was a phenomenal leader with unparalleled work ethic and integrity. He had an uncanny ability to market real estate and his unwavering moral compass allowed him to stay true to his core values as a businessman. As his brokerage grew, so did his reputation, and he used what he gained to work towards enriching the lives of people in the community. His dream was to make society a better place for all and his contributions to causes and community initiatives throughout the years have helped countless numbers of people.

Outside of real estate and community work, Tung Chee was a loving father to his son, Michael. From a young age, he made sure to teach him his values and ideals. He encouraged Michael to pave his own path while also being a man of the community. He taught Michael to stand up and fight for what’s right, to speak out against injustice, and to always lead with compassion. It is with Michael, Michael's wife Jessica, and their children Aerin and Augustus that Tung Chee’s legacy will now continue.

If Tung Chee Chan could be summed up with one word, it would be his favourite one to say - Excellent! TC Chan was an excellent human being. Let that be what everyone truly remembers of him.