Autumn Issue, 2017

Dr Samuel Kam 甘尚武 1915 - 2017 (BA 1938) Dr Kam, a distinguished graduate, passed away in March 2017 at the age of 101. Raised in Hong Kong and admitted to HKU in 1934, Dr Kam joined the war of resistance against Japanese in Chongqing, China’s wartime capital, after graduation. He became the secretary of Minister Chen Jitang 陳濟棠 , who was known as “the Celestial King of the South” 南天王 . After the war, Dr Kam obtained his master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He was then invited to be the chief engineer of the Singaporean palm oil company Lam Soon and since then helped build the palm oil industry of Malaysia. Dr Kam was president of the HKU Alumni Association, Malaysia between 1990s and 2008. He played a key role in connecting the alumni in Malaysia with HKU and contributed to the admission scheme of Malaysia students into HKU. Dr Kam has always got a strong affection and loyalty to HKU. At the age of 91, he flied from Malaysia to Shanghai to attend the Global Alumni Convention. He was also one of the most senior alumni at the HKU Centenary Gala Dinner in 2011 when he was 96 years old. “ Samuel was born in the middle of World War I in 1915 and, 96 years later, is still around to comment on where the world should be going … His was a success story for me to tell the HKU students. He has married his Chinese upbringing at home to the Oxbridge-imperial education at HKU. Through his familiarity with both traditions, plus the dynamic methodologies of Berkeley California, he moves easily from Confucian aphorisms to describing the applications of modern science. ” Professor Wang Gungwu 王賡武 Vice-Chancellor, HKU (1986-1995) Chairman, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore “ 甘尚武先生一直心繫母校，擔任港大馬來西亞校友會會長，更於 2005 年底親自率領 二十多位馬來西亞校友回港探訪母校。告別母校數十年後，大家一起回到校長府邸，暢論 母校過去、現在與未來，尤其是港大今天在亞洲的角色。 甘先生對社會及民生的關懷早萌芽於他的大學年代， 1937 年，他參加港大學生會的大陸 觀光團而身在內地，親歷‘七七事變’，自此他立下決心，在大學畢業後回到內地參與 抗戰工作，也展開了他充滿傳奇的一生。 當年甘先生在港大入學試的成續名列榮譽榜，並獲得大學四年的學宿費全免獎學金。 聖約翰堂 (St John’s Hall) 的宿舍生活、學院的導師制，甘先生印象猶新。甘先生描述當 年晚上常參加學者講座，如英國的文學家與戲劇家蕭伯納 (George Bernard Shaw) 、 中國北京大學的胡適、日本社會學家賀川豐彥 (Toyohiko Kagawa) 的講座等。他告訴 我們這便是港大傳統──思想自由、互相尊重、個性的充分發展、君子儒雅的形塑、寄宿 制度培養自立。 ” 徐立之教授 香港大學校長 (2002 -2014) Dr Kam published his memoirs in Chinese 《世紀巨變九十回顧 – 從陳濟棠 秘書到執掌大馬南順》 in 2007 and in English: “Through Wars and Peace, From the gunfire of the Sino-Japanese War to the golden oil of Malaya” at the age of 96. In the memoirs, he reminisced about the defining narratives of his time: the second Sino- Japanese War, World War II, and the Chinese Civil War, and how, through wars and peace, he had survived the changing times. 90 In Memoriam