To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, we are counting down to Canada Day with profiles of 150 noteworthy British Columbians.
Caleb Chan, it has been said, probably owns more golf courses in B.C. than most people play in a year.
At the time of a profile of the businessman written in The Vancouver Sun, Chan owned eight, including Gallagher’s Canyon in Kelowna and Nicklaus North in Whistler.
The story by golf writer Brad Ziemer described Chan as an “intensely private individual” who “prefers to fly low under the radar.” Called the most influential man on the B.C. golf scene, Chan avoided the media but had agreed to talk about golf.
Chan, whose specialty is real estate development, became interested in golf in 1989 after buying a property which happened to have a golf course — Gallagher’s Canyon. It rekindled an interest in the sport that he had as a teenager growing up in the San Francisco area. But it was building Nicklaus North in 1996 that got him back into golf again.
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Chan’s golf operations are grouped together under Golf B.C.
“It’s really not about making money out of it,” he said about operating golf courses, “but being able to sustain them and have facilities where people can enjoy the same kind of conditions you would find at a major resort.”
Golf B.C. now owns 13 golf courses, including three in Maui, four in the Okanagan, and two on Vancouver Island.
Chan is executive chairman and chief executive officer of Burrard International Holdings Inc. Chan, through the Chan Foundation of Canada and with his brother Tom, donated $10 million to build the $25-million Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of B.C.
The Chan Shun Concert Hall at the Chan Centre is named after Caleb’s father. The hall’s shape is inspired by the form of a cello, and the blond maple wood on the hall’s curved walls help to distribute sound evenly. Overhead is a 22.7-tonne acoustic canopy meant to reflect sound back to the performers and audience. It is suspended on cables, which can be adjusted for different groups and musical styles.
Chan Shun was born in Guangzhou and founded Crocodile Garments in Hong Kong. He moved to Vancouver in 1989. As a Seventh-day Adventist, he started charitable Christian foundations which have funded more than 100 projects around the world over the past four decades.
Burrard International properties include the Burrard Building in Vancouver, Village Farm Greenhouse in Delta, and 455 Market in San Francisco.
