Wing Kee Kwok, 72, a longtime resident of New York City in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, died of complications after heart surgery on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at the St. Joseph Hospital of Wayne, New Jersey. He was born in Shanghai, China on December 24, 1942, the only son of T.K. Kwok and Dulcie Lee.
His longtime partner of 40 years, Bruce Lowe, predeceased Wing Kee four years ago. He is survived by several cousins, Dee Kwok Wang of Shelburne, Vermont; Doris Vong of Vancouver, Canada; David Kwok of Los Angeles, California; Daniel Kwok of Honolulu, Hawaii; and Linda Ling of Manhattan, New York.
Wing Kee and his parents left Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1948. There he attended middle and high school at the Wah Yan College in Hong Kong. He came to United States to Wichita, Kansas in 1960 and graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in architecture. Wing Kee found employment in Manhattan, New York with Weisberg Castro Associates where he specialized in interior architecture. Many of his projects were lobbies and storefronts throughout the United States including clients such as Neiman Marcus and Gucci.
Wing Kee and his partner were world travelers and especially loved going on cruises any time they could get away. They enjoyed over 52 cruises making many friends along the way. His other hobbies included listening to classical music and operas, reading mystery novels, and playing contract bridge. His greatest skill was that of watercolor painting in a modern chinese calligraphy style, mostly of flowers and trees.
After his retirement, Wing Kee enjoyed working at his local health club at the London Terraces. There he loved being with his co-workers as well as staying in touch with many of his neighbors.
Wing Kee had a creative flair, and a kind, gentle, and generous nature. He will be missed by many. There will be a family memorial at a later date.
Wing Kee was a dear friend, that we had the privilege of meeting in Aruba. Wing Kee, Bruce, John and I became instant friends, we shared 9 years of going to Aruba with them and took a few other trips with them. In 1989 we went to Honk Kong with them and shaved many a laugh.We also visited them many times at their apartment in London Terrace. Wing Kee you will dearly be missed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLife is for love. Love is for sharing. Five years ago Winky forward an e mail from his high school classmate Alexmak about the Asian Game. The videos is produced by the site of CCTV. When I surf into the site, I discovered the Chinese Version and in the CCTV Channel 4 has a lots of Chinese TV series, especially about those relate to Chinese History. This open a whole new world for us. We have been busing watching Chinese TV series ever since. Winky believe this kind of sharing. He believe only through positive attitude one can tap into the abundance and attract more richness in life. Winky is an old time Chinese: he believe in predestination. He embrace with every happening in life, sharing his love and gave thanks for it's outcome. For every person we come into life, there is the reason and it's purpose. The only way is to treasure every moment as we don't know how much time we have. Every body who knew him all felt Winky is their best friend and vice verse. Now as Winky begin to live in our memory, may we bring his legacy to more people in our life.
ReplyDeleteWinky first wrote to me from the web. The more we correspond the more we discovered how we parallel in life. We have talked in the phone everyday since February 2008. It gave me great joy as we can speak our native language by mingle with Mandarin, Cantonese, English and some Shanghai. We can share all subjects in life including those can only sharing between us. We went to cruise many times, including the last two time of his visit Bruce in Aruba. We have brought many friends into our daily conversation. There are many of them have no chance to show their affection in here and I need to address them in here as well. As every friends are equally special and they should have the same chance to show their love.
Raymond Wang
We will all miss Wing Kee Kwok 郭頴基, a generous and loving person. A great architect and a great student at Wah Yan. May he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteHere is a write up of his school days when I was with him in Hong Kong : by Robert Shen 沈長康 shen_robert@yahoo.com
I met Wing Kee Kwok 郭頴基 when I entered Wah Yah College in Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1956 in Primary 6 (6th grade) and
knew him well all through the 6 years until he left for the United States in1962 after he graduated in Form 5 ( Equivalent to Junior in US system). Hong Kong used the British system in education and student graduate a year earlier than US High School.
Besides being a good student, Wing Kee also excelled in arts and music. He studied Chinese painting with 周千秋 梁粲缨 and introduced them to my mom and brother who took up Chinese painting too.
That was the beginning of his arts training which combined with his scientific knowledge made him a good architect. He wrote multiple articles for our high school's Shield for many years. Thanks to the contributors to the 50th Wah Yan High School reunion, we have all the Shields on the DVD.
Wing Kee also appeared in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas produced by our high school:-Mikado, Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe ( Thanks to Hsuch Wei Shiang-Music Conductor , Wong Chin Wah 黃展華-Lead teacher/actor and Chu Chee Wing 朱志榮-lead student singer) We really enjoyed those wonderful productions. During recess or lunch time, Wing Kee and I also got to enjoy the masterful piano performance of Yondani Butt 畢澤翔.
To our surprise, Wing Kee knew how to make a cake at his young age. So he is a good chef too.
After Wing Kee got into Wah Yan College (Kowloon), the Kwok family moved into an apartment next to the school. This way, Wing Kee could even go home for lunch, while Wing Kee's Dad who works on the Hong Kong side had to take the bus, the ferry to cross the harbor and the bus again every day to go to work.
Wing Kee and his mom arranged a lot of fun activities for us, parties, picnic trip, The gang included Andrew King, Joyce, myself, 陳永光, Chow Yi-Chong etc.
Wing Kee went to McPherson College in Kansas and because of his artistic ability, the College asked him to paint a large mural.
I came to US a year after Wing Kee. I got to know Wing Kee's parents quite well as I visited them quite often after Wing Kee left.
When I flew to United State for College, Wing Kee came all the way from Kansas to meet me and we took the Greyhound bus together across US to McPherson College in Kansas. I got to see his mural and met his friends before I continue on the bus to Massachusetts. Wing Kee later transferred to Kansas State University and graduated in 1966. His picture can be seen on Kansas State University's 1966 year book page 339, he at the upper right hand corner.
http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Kansas_State_University_Royal_Purple_Yearbook/1966/Page_339.html
When I visited New York City in the 70's , Wing Kee had already done quite a few architecture designs for big companies like Gucci and he showed me some of his beautiful designs.
Wing Kee's parents also moved from Hong Kong into the same condo complex that Wing Kee lived in New York City. Wing Kee and his friend Bruce treated me to the Broadway show "Dancing" and we all enjoyed it.
The last time I saw Wing Kee was in 1998 When Wing Kee showed me and my daughter around NYC. Wing Kee had taken up body building and was very fit if you see my photo with him.
Dear friend Wing Kee--- May God Bless and Until We Meet Again.
Bob Shen
Photo: Wing Kee Kwok 1960 party.
Las Vegas crossing USA on Greyhound 1963 Wing Kee & Bob
Wing Kee body building & Bob NYC 1998
I can't remember if I stayed with Uncle Wing Kee and Uncle Bruce the year I ran the NYC marathon. But I distinctly remember the meal Uncle Wing Kee fed me when I finally hobbled into the apartment after finishing. The BEST scrambled eggs I had ever eaten (I have no idea how many eggs he fed me, but there was quite a pile). I still make my scrambled eggs according to Uncle Wing Kee's directions, and remember that steaming plate each time I do.
ReplyDeleteI will always remember Uncle Wing Kee for his warm spirit and creative abilities. I got a painting lesson from him once, which could have been incredibly frustrating (given his ease and talent with the brush), but was instead fun and insightful! I learned how to make bamboo with a special technique that I use to this day.
ReplyDeleteI'll always remember Uncle Wing Kee for his incredible patience, kindness, and generosity.
Uncle Wing Kee was a creative, artistic and kind person, with a true flare for life. He painted a watercolor of his favorite tree in Aruba for Greg and I after our wedding celebration in Aruba. It hangs in Beatrix's room to this very day and we will think of him every time we enjoy looking at it. Uncle Wing Kee had a true appreciation for art and his excitement, energy and passion will be remembered always in his artwork.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Uncle WingKee, was a favorite uncle among Deane's relatives. He was always warm and welcoming. Once on my way to Louisiana, a snowstorm stranded me at JFK. No problem, WingKee and Bruce welcomed me to stay with them. After a five hour taxis ride from JFK (with a cab driver that wanted to dump me off in Brooklyn), I was so glad to see Uncle WingKee's face, I nearly cried. It turns out the storm was so bad it took several days before I could even take a train home from Penn Station (the planes weren't an option for several more days). So how did we spend the days? Playing our favorite game, Scrabble. It always astonished me how good his English vocabulary was even though it was his second language. He was a fierce competitor and I had to fight hard to win a single game. And, in the digital age, we played Lexulous, a computer version of Scrabble, everyday for the last several years.
ReplyDelete9/11 was another situation in the reverse. Both Uncle WingKee and Uncle Bruce were visiting us in Vermont. In the morning just before they were ready to depart for NYC, it was announced that all flights everywhere in the US were cancelled. They unpacked and before long they asked what they could do to help around the house. They offered to rake the yard. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe my eyes watching these two very urban guys raking leaves as though they did this all the time. For many afternoons, they enjoyed sitting on the back deck reading in the sunshine. In the evenings, we played mahjong and yes, Scrabble once again. Normally, our visits with them were relatively quick, but this time we were able spend several days catching up about family and friends.
Aside from all his creative talents, which were many, my memories of him are always that of a sweet and gentle soul.
As a child, I always wondered why my kind and gentle "uncles" name was "Winky." He didn't seem to wink at me. As I grew older, I came to understand his artistic talent and appreciate his paintings that hung in the house I grew up in. My city cousin always showed great interest in my family as it grew up, and the visits to his part of the city were fun and interesting. I will remember and appreciate his walking us along the new HighLine to show us how the Big Apple does plants and trees. We will miss his big smile and eager interest in what's happening in our lives.
ReplyDeleteWing Kee’s Highschool Classmates had established a web site in memory of Wing Kee Kwok. He was very dear to us, may he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteRobert Shen Class of 1962 Wah Yan College Kowloon.
http://wyk62.mysinablog.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=4984694
Wing Kee’s Highschool Classmates had established a web site in memory of Wing Kee Kwok. He was very dear to us, may he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteRobert Shen, class of 1962 Wah Yan College Kowloon
shen_robert@yahoo.com
http://wyk62.mysinablog.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=4984694