Tonight we acknowledge the passing of a noted Belizean. Businessman Simon Quan passed away on Friday in Gudalajara Mexico where he was receiving treatment for a heart condition. The 79 year old Quan had first been hospitalized in Belize on Sunday December sixth and was then taken to Mexico for treatment when his condition did not improve. Funeral services for Quan will be held on Wednesday afternoon at the Fordyce Chapel on the Landivar Campus in Belize City.

Quan – seen here at the queen’s birthday honors in October of this year collecting his Member of The British Empire, MBE, came to Belize from China in 1959; his trip was sponsored by his cousin Augusto Quan.

In 1965 after re-paying his cousin’s sponsorship, he went out on his own and built his business with his wife Emily. At first it was a grocery store, but his daughter Lupita today told us that initially her father and mother were destitute and literally had to sell the clothes off their backs to start up the business. And the business was selling anything customers would buy – even if it meant running up the street to buy a bottle of kerosene for 24 cents just so that they could sell it for 25 cents.

With that hard working ethic – Simon Quan steadily built his reputation and his business to where it is today, one of the largest general merchandise outlets in Belize – with warehouses and residences occupying a large part of a city block in the commercial center of Belize. His daughter tells us the organizing principle of his business was simple: “you have to sell things that people can afford.” Simon Quan was famous for many things - not least of which was his bicycle cart which he rode around town for decades – a mode of transport reflective of his extreme modesty. Indeed, he was a small man at the helm of a big business, and his family tells us he was at work until the night before he fell ill.

Quan was a two term President of the Belize-Chinese Association and was well known for his generous community contributions and scholarships. Simon Quan, the father of 9, dead at 79.