Vivienne Poy : Ask Biography

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Vivienne Poy (née Lee; 利德蕙; Cantonese Yale: Ley6 Dak1-wai6) (born May 15, 1941) was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1998. Poy came to Canada as a university student in 1959. She is the first Canadian senator of Asian ancestry. She graduated from St. Paul's Co-educational College, McGill University, Seneca College and the University of Toronto.

For 14 years, Poy served as president of Vivienne Poy Mode, a fashion design company that she founded in 1981. She was selected as Chancellor of the University of Toronto in December 2002.

Poy is the daughter of Richard Charles Lee (利銘澤; Cantonese: Lee Ming Chak), who is the son of famous businessman Hysan Lee in Hong Kong, and Esther Yewpick Lee (黃瑤璧; Cantonese: Lee Yiu Pik) and the sister-in-law of Adrienne Clarkson, who was Governor General of Canada from 1999 to 2005. Vivienne Poy's husband Dr. Neville Poy, a retired plastic surgeon, is Adrienne Clarkson's brother.