Dr. Tao Ho passed away peacefully on March 29th, 2019 in Hong Kong, aged 82. He had been debilitated since a stroke in April 2002.
Born in Shanghai in 1936 to Ping Yin Ho & Chin Hwa, Tao grew up with elder brother Chien and younger sister Diana.
The family moved to Hong Kong in 1937. A brilliant student, Tao graduated from Pui Ching Middle School and went on to receive a BA in Art History with a minor in Music and Theology at Williams College in Massachusetts. Then, he studied for his MArch at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design under the tutelage of Josep Lluís Sert, Sigfried Giedion, and Walter Gropius, the latter of whom hired Tao upon graduation as his personal assistant at The Architects Collaborative.
In 1968, four years after Tao returned to Hong Kong, he founded TaoHo Design Architects. Early projects include the Hong Kong International School and the Hong Kong Arts Centre, whose designs heralded the arrival of the Bauhaus to Hong Kong. Within his broad portfolio of works are the Hong Kong Pavilion at the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver, the renovation of Hong Kong’s Governor House for Lord Chris Patten, the award-winning Wing Kwong Pentecostal Church, the first panda pavilion at Ocean Park and the revitalization of the Western Market in Sheung Wan. Tao also designed Hong Kong SAR’s Bauhinia emblem, its flag and the ceremonial pen used at the handover signing ceremony in 1997.
A leader in heritage conservation and cultural development, Tao conceived of an arts district for the city that is now the West Kowloon Cultural District. He enjoyed sharing his views on “TaoHo on Music” (樂論滔滔在何弢) for RTHK in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, he was one of the four regular hosts of “Free As The Wind” (講東講西), discussing his views on cultural and social issues.
In talent, Tao was a Renaissance man, as his buildings, designs, sculptures, paintings and recorded voice will attest. He inspired ideas, admiration, friendship, loyalty and affection. In temperament, he was larger than life, of which he was a fan. As a mentor, he was treasured for his generosity and erudition; as a friend, for his wisdom, his purity of spirit and his jokes, his songs and his sparkling conversation. As a loving husband, father and grandfather, he will be sorely missed. By all who knew him, he will be remembered as a man who lived with curiosity and exuberance and who pursued a life of purpose with a great sense of fun.
Tao once described his life’s work: “[It is] an on-going revelation of the potential of an artistic spirit responding to a social and environmental consciousness. It is this consciousness, coupled with a devoted interest in Eastern philosophy and a love for beauty in nature, that drives [me] to establish a humanistic approach to architecture and promote the preservation of our natural environment and the enrichment of cultural heritage.” Living life as an adventure, he “climbed high and climbed far,” realising the hope emblazoned on the Memorial Gates at his alma mater.
He is survived by Irene, his wife of forty-one years, daughter Noëlle (son-in-law Wai-Shan), and grandchildren Zhong Xing, Zhi Xing and Zheng Xing; and from his first marriage, his daughters Suenn (son-in-law John), grandchildren Margot Tai-Yi and Claire Yuan; Shu, (son-in-law Matt), and his son Dien (daughter-in-law Jane).
April 2nd, 2019
TaoHo Foundation
何弢博士於二〇一九年三月二十九日逝世於香港，享壽八十二歲。
此前在二〇〇二年四月，何弢不幸中風而行動不便，十七年後息勞止厄，歸主而自由。
何弢博士原籍廣東番禺，一九三六年生於上海，父為何炳賢先生，母親邱錦華。 有一兄何潛，妺何韞。
一九三七年，何炳賢夫人偕三子女搬來香港。何弢畢業於培正中學，赴美國麻省威亷斯書院修讀美術史，輔修音樂與神學，其後升讀哈佛建築系，取得建築系碩士，期間師從美國與國際名建築家賽樓易 (Lluis Sert)、姬錫斐 (Sigfried Giedion) 、葛畢理 (Walter Gropius)。畢業後更獲葛氏聘任為建築行私人助理。
何弢於一九六四年自美國回港，四年後開設何弢建築師公司，在香港早年設計，包括香港國際學校及第一座現代德國包郝斯風格之香港藝術中心。
一九八六年，何弢親自設計溫哥華世界博覽會香港場舘，後獲香港總督彭定康邀請裝修港督府、五旬節聖潔會永光堂，為香港海洋公園設計第一座熊貓展館，並為上環街市設計舊蹟保育。
何弢博士並設計了香港特別行政區洋紫荊區徽、區旗，並為一九九七年六月三十日香港主權移交禮簽署儀式的鋼筆。在維港兩岸，何弢留下大量心血業績。
何弢博士為香港古舊建築之保養開風氣，為香港文化發展獻策謀。其最先倡導香港建立文化藝術區意念，今日終落成於西九龍。
何弢博士愛好繪畫音樂，並涉閱神學哲學，其人靜而思動，情激藝精，靈思博雅，逸興遄飛。八十年代為香港電台主持「樂論滔滔在何弢」，九十年代末加入香港電台周日文化沙龍清談「講東講西」，其間北上中國各大城市，為中國城市風貌建設提供意見。
何弢身為建築師而專業精勤，為社會活動家而奔走殷切，為師則傾識授業，為友則坦蕩赤誠。他鍾愛香港，熱愛知識，侶博儒而友民眾，於挑戰而勇應，於困難而奮進，職志於環境保護，信仰於天地生靈。曾著有「何弢築夢」一書，弘志論道，承傳美國校訓：「攀高望遠，彌堅彌孤」(Climb high and climb far)，並希望與社會和世界分享他的美麗理想。
何弢博士逝世，遺孀何羅玉琪女士、女何熒、婿林外山，外孫林中行、林之行、林正行；與前妻的子女何巽、婿John Flynn (莊飛) 外孫飛元、飛太一，何抒、婿關紹祺，何典、媳Jane Leo，連同生前友好彥達，感恩懷念人世間有此趣雅慈誠的人物，與吾同行，令人生的旅途多姿采；今遽爾大去，何弢先生的靈感和創意，他對香港的片片心跡，壁立千仭，成為建築的凝結的音樂，長在香港的山水之間。深信香港這位好朋友、好公民，必在天國輝煌的殿堂永生。
二零一九年四月二日
何弢基金
