Businessman, Philanthropist.  Founder of Hong Kong University. Born in Bombay to a Parsi family, Mody started a newspaper business as a teenager. He moved to Hong Kong between 1858 and 1860, thereafter becoming a successful businessman. He founded the company Chater & Mody with business partner Sir Catchick Paul Chater in 1868, starting in stock broking and then expanding into real estate. The company bought up land in the recently ceded territory of Kowloon, and he and Chater made a fortune. Later they expanded their business ventures to the coal mining industry in Vietnam, a source of coal for electric power in Hong Kong. Mody was instrumental in founding the University of Hong Kong, offering to contribute $150,000 as long as the sum was matched by other donors. In 1910, he laid the foundation stone of the university, and was knighted thereafter. Numerous places in Hong Kong are named after him, including Mody Road in Kowloon. (bio by: Chris Nelson)