In Memory of Mrs Mak - 1934 to 2025

In Loving Memory of Mrs. Mak

December 20, 1934 to December 15, 2025

In lieu of flowers, please donate generously to Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Mrs. Mak has been all about providing affordable, nutritious, and tasty meals to her Eastside fans for the past 30 years. In heaven, she will appreciate your support for this cause, especially as many people in Vancouver face challenges this winter. David and Judy will match all donations made to this fundraising page.
____________________________________________________________________

Mrs. Mak passed away peacefully on December 15, 2025 - just five days shy of her 91st birthday - at St. John Hospice, surrounded by her family. Her passing followed a courageous six-month battle with bile duct cancer, a final test of the legendary strength and positivity that defined her life.

Born in Dongguan, China, Mrs. Mak fled to Hong Kong in the 1950s during the Civil War, starting with humble beginnings. Though she never received a formal education, she possessed a brilliant, self-taught mind. While working two or three low-paying jobs and selling cheap goods on street markets, she attended part-time classes to become a master sewer and a proficient bookkeeper, even learning basic written English to navigate the business world. This grit led her to become a "serial entrepreneur," co-founding Dah Sang Trading Ltd. with her husband and taking bold risks, from clothing factories and a pigeon farm to a care home, to ensure her sons could study abroad and have opportunities she did not have. While most ventures failed, her determination and perseverance at Dah Sang brought financial stability and lifted the whole family to better lives.

In 1988, she moved to Vancouver to retire, but she could not sit still and instead dabbled in real estate development. But her most significant chapter of community service began in her late sixties when she founded Seahouse Fish and Chips. While the neighbourhood loved the "four-star" rated food on the cheap, the restaurant's true heart was a mothers devotion: she built it to ensure her eldest son, Kam Yuen, who is mentally challenged, would always have a place and a purpose. Ever the perfectionist, she mastered the techniques for creating her famous thin, crispy batter, working as head chef every day for nearly 30 years until this past May.

She was a "blunt, stubborn hardhead" with a heart of gold. Famous for her selfless loyalty, whenever a friend was in need, she would clap her chest and announce, "You can count on me. I will help you." The depth of the love she sowed was never more apparent than in her final months; friends who are now in their eighties and nineties flew all the way from Hong Kong to Vancouver just to sit by her bedside at VGH and St. John Hospice.

She lived by the mantra, "If they can do it, so can I!" She was disciplined, creative, and fiercely gutsy. To her four sons, she was the most successful person they ever knew, not for the wealth she built, but for the selfless, "superwoman" spirit with which she led her life.