Peter Lee Jung-sum (23 October 1939 – 3 September 2008) was a Hong Kong meteorologist and electrical engineer who served as assistant director of the Hong Kong Observatory. He was the elder brother of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.
Background
Born Lee Jung-sum on 23 October 1939 in British Hong Kong, he was the eldest son of Cantonese opera performer Lee Hoi-chuen and Grace Ho. He attended La Salle College, where he excelled in both academics and sports.
Fencing Career
Lee was a world-class fencer. In March 1958, he won the championship in the first Inter-School Fencing Competition. In July 1958, he represented Hong Kong at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as part of the Hong Kong fencing team, winning in round one but not advancing to the quarter-finals. He introduced his younger brother Bruce Lee to fencing when Bruce was around 11 to 14 years old. Beginning in 1968, Lee served as coach of the La Salle Fencing Team, leading them to eleven Inter-School Fencing Championship wins in thirteen years.
Education and Career
In May 1959, Lee joined Bruce in Seattle for a short stay before proceeding to Minnesota to further his studies. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and returned to Hong Kong. In 1983, he completed his PhD at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong, with a doctoral thesis titled "A ground clutter processor for the Royal Observatory's 10-cm meteorological radar."
In the 1960s, Lee taught at La Salle College and later joined the Royal Observatory Hong Kong as its assistant director, where he contributed significantly to the technical development of the observatory's detection of tropical cyclones.
Personal Life
Lee married Eunice Lam in 1966, and they had a son, Lee Hoi-ho. They divorced in 1971. In 1980, he married Mary Cheung, winner of Miss Hong Kong 1975, with whom he had a son, Lee Wai-ho, and a daughter, Lee Yuk-yee. They divorced in 1995.
Through his brother Bruce Lee's marriage to Linda Lee Cadwell, he was the uncle of actors Brandon Lee and Shannon Lee.
Death
Upon retirement, Lee moved his family first to New Zealand and later to Melbourne, Australia. He died of a heart attack at his home on 3 September 2008 at the age of 68. He was cremated and his ashes were brought back to Hong Kong.
Portrayals in Media
Lee was portrayed by Wang Gongyi in the 2008 television series The Legend of Bruce Lee. The adult Lee was portrayed by Hong Kong singer Charles Ying, and ten-year-old Peter was portrayed by child actor Wei Zi-li in the 2010 Hong Kong film Bruce Lee, My Brother.
