Hong Kong-Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho Hung-sun Photo: VCG

Stanley Ho Hung-sun, the Hong Kong-Macau casino magnate, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 98 in Hong Kong. 

"It is heartbreaking for us to make this announcement…my father always loved the people of Hong Kong… taking from society and giving back was his motto, which we will uphold as well. We knew that this day would finally come, but that did not lessen our sadness," Pansy Ho Chiu-king, daughter of Stanley Ho, said at a briefing at Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, noting the family will handle the funeral collectively.

Ho achieved great business success in Hong Kong's and Macao's gambling industry, air transport, real estate, shipping, banking and tourism sectors. He served as a Standing Committee member of the 9th to 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.

He made great contributions to his motherland in terms of economic development, culture and charity, and was hailed as a patriotic businessman.

As an advisor to Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games Bidding Committee, Ho made a substantial donation to the construction of China's National Swimming Center in Beijing. 

He also set up the Stanley Ho Astronautics Training Foundation in China in 1990 and established the Stanley Ho Astronautics Training Center in Langfang, North China's Hebei Province. He was also awarded the title of honorable citizen of Beijing in 2001 and of Guangzhou in 1993.

He made multiple donations of precious cultural relics to Beijing-based museums, including well-known treasures looted from Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace. He purchased and donated three looted bronze animal head statues out of 12 based on the Chinese zodiac. 

Ho donated five priceless works of art to the National Museum in July, 2007, marking a decade since Hong Kong's return to the motherland. Speaking at the donation ceremony, Ho said that he had witnessed the successful implementation of "one country, two systems" in both the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and as a Chinese, he looked forward to the peaceful reunification of his country as soon as possible. 

Ho once said that he spent most of his life in Macao and witnessed the return of Macao and Hong Kong, and felt grateful to have participated in building up Macao.