Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok is pictured in Hong Kong in this undated file photo. Fok died on October 28, 2006, at the age of 83.   Oct. 29 - Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung, whose business and political influence and close ties to Beijing has died in the Chinese capital aged 83, China reported on Sunday. Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post said he had been suffering from cancer.

 

Fok, a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), died at Peking Union Medical College Hospital on Saturday evening.

 

Long seen as one of the Hong Kong figures best connected in Beijing, Fok was a trusted confidant of many mainland leaders.

 

Born in 1923 at Panyu, in Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong, Fok rose from humble roots to become one of the city's wealthiest and most powerful men.

 

In 1993, with Hong Kong still under British colonial rule, Beijing made Fok a vice chairman of the CPPCC, the Chinese parliament's main consultative body, putting him in the same league as the country's most senior leaders.

 

Only one other Hong Kong citizen, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, holds an equivalent position.

 

In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked him the 181st most wealthy man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion. His business empire includes property, ports and casinos in the former Portugese enclave of Macau.

 

Despite the trappings of power and wealth, the younger Fok could often be found playing street football with the territory's top players on downtown concrete pitches.

 

In 1970 he flew the Brazilian team Santos, including star player Pele, to Hong Kong for an exhibition match -- an event which caused a great sensation in the city.

 

Fok was active in charitable work through the Fok Ying Tung foundation which he founded in 1984. In 2005, he donated a little over $100 million to a local university.