William Poy
Canadian businessman (1907–2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William George Poy, MM (Chinese: 伍英才; 17 May 1907 – 3 February 2002) was an Australian-born Canadian civil servant and businessman of Chinese descent. He served with the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (the Volunteers) during World War II as a Lance Corporal messenger and worked for the Canadian Trade Commission in Hong Kong. He was awarded the Military Medal for his service in Hong Kong.
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Life and career
Poy was born in Chiltern, Victoria, Australia to Ah Poy as one of seven children.[1] He left Hong Kong in 1942 and settled in Ottawa, Ontario, with his wife Ethel Poy, a fellow migrant from Guangdong province of Hakka descent and their two children, Adrienne and Neville. His daughter, Adrienne, would later become the Governor General of Canada.
Poy obtained a degree in political science from the University of Ottawa. He continued to work at the trade commission until 1946 and later became a stock broker working in Canada and Hong Kong.[2] Poy established the Allied Trading Company in Ottawa after his career with the Trade Commission.
Poy retired in the mid-1970s and moved to Toronto. Widowed in 1988, he died at a nursing home in 2002. He was survived by two brothers, Lindsay and Roy, in Australia, and other distant relatives in China and Australia. He was predeceased by his brother Leslie.