Distinguished businessman, Simon Quan, passes away
He is well known and highly respected in the community. His store, Simon Quan, on Queen Street in Belize City carries an extensive variety of goods at affordable prices. Today shoppers in the height of the Christmas Shopping Season may have noticed a black bow on the outside of the store. That bow has been placed in honor of the man who started the business in 1965. The legendary Simon Quan passed away last Friday while receiving medical care for heart complications in Guadalajara, Mexico. Quan was born in Mexico and then moved to China before coming to Belize forty-five years ago. He first worked for Augusto Quan before starting his own business on Queen Street. He is known by everyone from the average man on the street to high ranking officials and is a Justice of the Peace and Member of the British Empire. Despite his business success, Quan lived a humble life. He is the father of nine children and one his sons, Peter, spoke to News Five today about the passing of his father.
Peter Quan, Son, Simon Quan
“He fell ill last Sunday, which was December seventh and we had to take him to Belize Medical Associates. On Thursday we had to fly him out to Mexico, Guadalajara for urgent medical care. Thereafter, he succumbed to his illness, which was heart failure on Friday, December eleventh. With age a lot of things develop; from one thing to the next it started to multiply or to tell on him and then eventually everything accumulated to the heart failure. My father is an icon, in a sense he is like a legend in Belize and I’m sure he will make a lot of people follow in his footsteps as a true role model, as a Belizean, as a businessman, as a father and as a community leader.”
Delahnie Bain
“Have you made funeral arrangements and everything already?”
Peter Quan
“It is scheduled for Wednesday, December sixteenth at Fordyce Chapel Landivar. Ceremonies commence at two o’clock p.m. and his body will lie in state there from one o’clock p.m.”
The store will be closed all day Wednesday the funeral. Simon Quan…dead at seventy-nine.
