Jackson H. Lam

Jackson Hopsing Lam was born in Shanghai, China on November 7, 1943 to the late Sheung Lan Fong and the late Chosen Lam. Despite being born in China, Jack considered Hong Kong to be his childhood home. The 7th of 11 children, Jack came from humble beginnings. He shared a bedroom with several other siblings and slept in a narrow bunk bed with two of his sisters. He only had one outfit to his name, and shared jeans with his sisters too.

Jack grew up very shy but he had lofty goals and ambitions and imagined a life full of possibility across the world, in America. After graduating from St. Stephen's high school, he spent the next two years working and earning money so he could realize his aspirations of moving to America.

Jack always stressed the importance of education to his children. He knew in order to realize his own American dream, he would need a strong foundation. His first order of business after moving to America was to get his college degree. He earned his Bachelor's at Central College in Iowa and his MBA at the University of Alabama.

Jack started out his career working in insurance and received awards for being a top salesman multiple years in a row. Despite his successes at Wausau Insurance company, he had loftier dreams of owning his own business. He eventually set out on his own, working in investment banking, and buying and selling commodities to other countries. At the height of his career, Jack's net worth was in the millions. The humble boy from China had realized his dreams, but he always felt he had more to do. "I'm not finished yet," he was known to say.

In between his studies, Jack supported himself by working at his brother-in-law's restaurant, Ping's, in Montauk, NY. It was there that he met his future wife, Amy. He began a long courtship that ultimately resulted in a small courthouse marriage on March 27, 1979. Three years later, Jack and Amy would have their first daughter, Sherrell. Three years after that, their younger daughter Shaunna would be born. The four of them lived in a modest 2 bedroom apartment in Flushing, NY. In those early days, Flushing was a somewhat sleepy place with not much diversity, but Jack had the foresight to see that it would become the mecca of Queens and develop into a second Chinatown in NY.

Jack enjoyed the finer things in life. He loved to travel and immerse himself in other cultures and especially enjoyed sampling different types of wine. Jack also had a mean backhand, both on the tennis court and ping pong table. He was the men's ping pong champion in Hong Kong and men's singles champion at Central College in 1966.

Jack never expected to become a family man, but he was a natural father and he most enjoyed guiding his daughters in their future endeavors, whether it was career or relationship related. As a grandfather, he delighted in playing with his grandkids and sharing in their accomplishments.

Jack had the gift of being able to connect and have a meaningful conversation with whomever he met. He has touched many lives even outside of his close circle of family and friends. He will be missed dearly by his loved ones, but he would not want us to be sad for too long. He always lived life with enthusiasm for each day. His parting gift to us all is to delight in the small wonders around us. There is a world out there waiting to be explored.