Mr. Jonathon Lai Wa Ng

February 23, 1963 – December 19, 2022

With heavy hearts, we announce that Jonathon Ng passed away peacefully with his family at his side.

Born in Hong Kong to Tommy Ng and Wong Sheung Tai, Jonathon immigrated to Canada with his family in 1971. He grew up in East Vancouver, attending Vancouver Technical Secondary, where he met the love of his life, Lianna Mah.

After receiving his Diploma from BCIT and Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo, Jonathon and Lianna married in 1991. They had two children, Jessica and Justin. Jonathon joined the City of Surrey in the Water Resources group, managing stormwater and flood issues. At Surrey he developed the floodplain mapping tool, which is still used today.

Jonathon later joined a consulting firm, Kerr Wood Leidal Associates, serving as a project manager, lead of the First Nations team, and later as a director on their Board. He was most gratified by the work he did and the life-long relationships he made with Indigenous communities, helping to design and build infrastructure, homes, and schools.

Jonathon loved sports. He played in several Vancouver open tennis tournaments and received gold medals for tennis at the Canadian Transplant Games in 2006. He also played basketball and table tennis, curled, golfed, and skied. He was proud of being president of the chess club while attending UBC, and achieving Master level.

Jonathon developed kidney disease and was fortunate to receive a transplant in 1996. When his transplant failed in 2008, he made the difficult decision to retire to focus on his health. He was grateful to be able to participate in the Independent Dialysis Program, which gave him an improved quality of life – in particular, he could eat whatever he wanted!

After retirement, Jonathon co-coached Justin’s soccer team, taking the team to the Burnaby District championships. He also volunteered at the kids’ high school, STM.

Jonathon enjoyed trying different restaurants, and travelling to new places (to try the food); his most recent bucket-list adventures included trips to Taiwan, Yellowknife to see the Northern Lights, and Universal Studios in LA where he enjoyed drinking Butter-Beer. He loved going to Vancouver Canucks games, movies, and musicals, and watching the Seattle Seahawks.

After a long, 4-year battle with cancer, concurrent with kidney dialysis, Jonathon passed away surrounded by family. He will be lovingly missed by his wife and best friend, Lianna, and their children, Jessica and Justin; his sisters Rosata (Thomas Ip) and Cindy (Tige Chiu); his nieces Selina (James Li) and Aurea (Quoc Bui) and their children; and nephews Jason, Joey, and Jeremy.

Jonathon will be remembered for his love of food and travel, his bright smile, and his loud laugh.

The family wish to thank the Palliative Care and Nephrology Teams at Vancouver General Hospital, in particular, Drs. Copland, Neufeld, and Singh.

A celebration of life is being held at Riverway Gold Course.

Location: Riverway Golf Course

9001 Bill Fox Way, Burnaby, BC V5J 5J3

Date: Saturday, January 14, 2023

Time: 10:30 am PST

The Family kindly requests that everyone wear colors, (no black attire please).

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jonathon’s memory can be made to VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation, the BC Cancer Foundation, or Kidney Foundation.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared below for the Ng family.