Peter Woo was chairman of property developer Wheelock & Co. and its main subsidiary, Wharf Holdings, before stepping down in 2015. His son Douglas, who now chairs Wheelock, took the company private in 2020. Beyond property, Wheelock and Wharf control important telecom, port and retailing assets, including luxury department store chain Lane Crawford. Woo started his career in 1972 with Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, where he met his future wife Bessie, daughter of the shipping tycoon Y.K. Pao. In 1975 he joined her family's business in Hong Kong.
