THE children and grandchildren of Yu Panglin, a Shenzhen honorary citizen and a Hong Kong billionaire philanthropist, announced they will fulfill his will of giving away his remaining fortune to charity, in front of Yu’s tomb in Shenzhen on Monday, the anniversary of his death.

    The announcement marked the ending of a yearlong dispute among Yu’s descendants about the legitimacy of his will.

    The Hong Kong hotelier and real estate entrepreneur was named the most generous donor on the Hurun philanthropy list for five consecutive years before he died May 2 last year in Shenzhen at the age of 93.

    The founder of the Yu Panglin Foundation, which is dedicated to health care, education and disaster relief, donated his entire fortune to charity.

    In 2010, he announced at a banquet that he would entrust property, which was valued at HK$9.3 billion (US$1.2 billion) then, to the bank, and the money would be donated after his death. He is believed to be China’s first billionaire to donate his entire fortune to charity.

    Yu’s grandson Peng Zhibing, son of Yu’s eldest son, was designated as the will’s executor. But Yu’s second-eldest son, Peng Yafan, questioned the testament’s legitimacy, leading to the delay of the execution of the will.

    Peng Zhibing appealed to Hong Kong’s High Court on Dec. 11 last year, asking the court to recognize the legitimacy of Yu’s will. Peng Zhibing said it was a painful decision for him to sue his uncle, but he was more worried that his grandfather’s donation was being called into doubt.

    Peng Zhibing and Peng Yafan eventually agreed to uphold Yu’s will.

    On April 22, Peng Yafan submitted a certificate of no defense to Hong Kong’s High Court, meaning he was no longer skeptical about the legitimacy of Yu’s will.

    “It was a good thing for Yu and his family, and it was also good for China’s philanthropy,” said Xu Bin, chief adviser of Yu’s charitable trust.

    Yu’s charity foundation’s donations to some universities in China and other charity movements are under way.

    Yu was born in 1922 to a business family in Loudi, Hunan Province.

    He moved to Hong Kong in 1958 and made a living as a cleaner, handyman and construction worker. He later founded his own real estate company and then expanded to other areas, including tourism, hotels and health care.

    In the 1980s, Yu started donating money to build schools, emergency centers, public bus routes, tunnels, fountains and other infrastructure projects.

    In 2007, he was on the list of world’s top philanthropists selected by Time magazine.

    He established scholarships and grants at 20 universities across China and donated more than 70 million yuan to education initiatives.

    “If my children are more capable than me, it’s not necessary to leave a lot of money to them. If they are incompetent, a lot of money will only be harmful to them,” Yu once said.

    (Zhang Yang)