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.
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