Bing Yum Lee

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Bing Yum Lee 李 炳 炎 after a brief illness. His passing was peaceful in his sleep on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.

Bing was an energetic age 91 (in Chinese years) and fought a brave fight against a recently diagnosed cancer.

Bing will be missed greatly and lovingly remembered by his wife Susan, sons Grant (Susanna) and Victor, grandchildren Vincent and Victoria (George), great-grandchildren Edward and Amy, and many family and friends, including sister Molly (Kal), brother-in-law Dennis (Sandra), relatives Saul and Julian, nephews, nieces and more.

Bing was born in Tung Lok village in Hoy San county in China. 廣東省台山縣，台城 東樂村。 He was a kind, caring, compassionate, genuine and loyal man that provided for and loved his family with all his heart.

Like his family before him, he was a very well-respected restaurateur and was a trailblazer for Chinese food in Winnipeg.

In 1964, Bing and Susan bought a place and opened Bing’s Chinese Food restaurant. The restaurant was one of Bing’s proudest achievements. Starting with a small kitchen, a lunch counter and a few tables seating a total of 30 people, along with pick-up and delivery services, they soon had many devoted and regular customers. In 1974, Bing and Susan decided to tear down the old building and re-build on the same spot. The result was a brand new restaurant building with a large kitchen and a licensed dining room still serving all the customer favourites.

After many years of hard work, Bing and Susan retired from the restaurant in 1994. Before retiring, they invited many friends and loyal customers to get together at the restaurant for one more big banquet of their favourite dishes.

Bing had a happy, healthy and active retirement. In retirement, he enjoyed doing yard work and home improvement projects and making meals for the family. The family particularly enjoyed his pancakes and his “bahk gai” 白切雞 (boiled white chicken).

Bing liked watching football, wrestling and the news. He also enjoyed taking walks in the park and going on vacations with family. This included bus tours and trips to see family and friends across Canada. Bing and Susan especially enjoyed getting together in San Francisco, Seattle and Las Vegas with family and long-time friends that they knew from school days in China. In the winters prior to the pandemic, he and Susan would often drive to the outlet mall to do mall walking and then to Tim Hortons for a soup and sandwich.

Bing was most proud of and enjoyed watching his children and grandchildren grow up and prosper. He was especially looking forward to playing with his great-grandchildren who he loved and saw many times on video during the pandemic.

Even in his last days, Bing talked about recovering, going on family trips and having family get-togethers in the future. He said to make sure that we plugged in our cars and asked that we pick up food on the way home to make sure that we were warm and fed. His love and caring was strongly felt and cherished. Our Daddy (爸), Grandpa (爺) and Great-Grandpa (白公) will always be remembered, loved and deeply missed by his family and by those who knew him.

Special thanks to friends, neighbours, and colleagues for their kind thoughts, prayers and assistance. It has been much appreciated. Also many thanks to the doctors and all the health team members at Victoria Hospital 5 South and at St. Boniface Hospital 5B for your treatment and kindness.

Bing’s wishes were to have a simple service with family only in attendance. The service will be on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 2:00 PM CT. Friends and out-of-town family may watch a livestream at that time using this link: https://youtu.be/zNCIz777-fc

Those that wish to send flowers to the service as part of custom or tradition may send to: Thomson In The Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 1291 McGillivray Blvd, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5Y4 by Noon on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. If you wish to make a charitable donation in memory of Bing, please feel free to send to Cancer Care Manitoba, The Canadian Cancer Society or the charity of your choice.