Hung Pok Leung

Hung Pok Leung

September 21, 1930 to October 6, 2022

Sadly, our beloved father Hung Pok Leung passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Oct 6, 2022.

He was a loving Husband of Lan Kwai, beloved Father of Kim (Peter), Kathy, Ka Wing (Dawn), Ka Fai (Fanny), Ka Lok (Manon), devoted grandfather to Michael, Alysa (Thomas), Kara (Dave), Kyle (Joanna), Kody, Hunter, Kolton, Kassia, and cherished great grandfather to Leela, Benjamin and Finn.

Our father Hung Pok Leung was born in the Philippines to Chinese parents. He was one of 7 children. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, his parents sent him back to China when he was 11 years old in order to ensure that one of the sons remained with the family living in China. He had fond memories of growing up with his grandfather whom he adored and he often talked about.

When it came time for our 21-year-old dad to look for a wife, he only had one criterion – that he wanted to marry someone intelligent. Our mother was a teacher and they got married shortly after they met. Due to the turbulent times in China under communism, he left for Hong Kong where he lived alone and continued with his studies. A few years later, our mom would join him there in 1955. Life was hard. There were many refugees in Hong Kong at the time and unemployment was very high. He briefly worked as a police officer, but he quit after he decided that he was not tough enough to be in that profession. Our parents took a chance to become chicken farmers when they heard that a philanthropist was giving out free chicks in order to encourage chicken farming in the New Territory. The beginning of their career as chicken farmers was marked with big failures since they knew nothing about chicken farming. Fortunately, after many years of hard work, their business became a success. At one time, in addition to chicken farming, our dad also worked full time on buses selling bus tickets to supplement income for his young family.

Our dad always wanted a better life for his 5 children. His dream was to come to America. After a long day’s work, he would study English with the aid of an English Chinese dictionary at night before bedtime. He also took cooking classes to make sure that he could land a job as a cook in Chinese food restaurants in America if needed. He finally succeeded and got a visa to come to Canada as a potential investor for poultry farms. He came to a new country in February 1969 with 5 children ranging from 3 to 13 years old. Life was difficult. Luckily both our parents landed a job in a factory shortly after they arrived. Once they had full employment, our parents bought a house in downtown Toronto where we lived on the ground floor and rented out the 2nd and 3rd floors. Our dad also bought his first vehicle, a Pontiac Ventura.

Our dad’s love of studying continued when we moved to our second house in the suburb. The home was located next to a school where evening classes were offered. Our dad thought that Canada was the greatest country in the world where anyone could take courses for free. He took several. One course taught him how to become a driving instructor. He initially kept his full-time factory job when he first started working part-time as a driving instructor. He later established his own driving school – Safety Driving School, under which he taught hundreds of students over the years including his children and grandchildren on how to drive safely. His students were all very fond of him. They called him “Master Leung”. We as kids never saw our parents while growing up. As new immigrants, they were working all the time. Once our dad became a grandfather, he retired to help our mom look after their grandchildren and spent many happy hours with them at various McDonald’s restaurants.

His generosity and his kindness were felt by all those around him. His bond with his family will endure. He was a good husband, terrific father, adored grandfather, and a caring great-grandfather. He will be forever remembered, loved and deeply missed.

A private ceremony will be held and he will rest at Highland Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Parkinson Canada.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.kanejerrettnorthyork.ca for the Leung family.