Thomas Choy Junior

Tom was born the third of five children to Carmen Saclayan Choy and Thomas Chun Kit Choy Sr. in Manila on October 19, 1952.

He was the Editor-in-Chief of his high school newspaper called ‘The Gold Reed’. He graduated as class Valedictorian of Elpidio Quirino High School in 1970 and received offers of a full scholarship from a number of colleges and universities. He chose Ateneo de Manila University and accepted their full scholarship offer. He graduated Ateneo de Manila University with a BA in Economics in 1974.

He met his wife, Maria Victoria Lorenzo, and they married in 1978 in Manila. In 1980, Tom and Maria had their first, and only child, Isabelle (Ivy).

He was a Financial Consultant at Merrill Lynch in New York City. He was also the Vice President of the Ateneo Alumni Association of New York and former President of the Philippine NY Jaycee’s. Then he started his real estate career in Richmond British Columbia. He had a passion for helping people find their dream homes and he was able to do that in the real estate field.

He enjoyed building relationships with people in his community and helping newcomers to Canada by connecting them to the right resources. He loved serving in the Ateneo alumni community by attending and organizing events. He also had a passion for writing his column The Vancouver Eye in The Philippine Chronicle and then later for Philippine Asian Chronicle.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Carmen, and his father, Thomas Chun Kit.

He is survived by his wife, Maria, his child Ivy (Takahiro Oya), his siblings Zenaida, Jaime, Maritess (Kelvin Arcelay), Angelita, his nephew Chris, his nieces Lianna and Maricel, and his grandchildren Megumi and Masaharu.

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In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Ateneo Scholarship Fund. Please send an email transfer to

[email protected].