SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife lost a major business figure over the weekend as Anthony Weisin Chang, owner of TC Enterprises, died suddenly while visiting family in Ontario Saturday night, at 63 years old. The cause of death couldn't be determined by press time.

Tony Chang co-president of TC Enterprises, middle, pitched his 48-unit apartment complex in Bartesko Court to city council in March 2014. City staff Dennis Marchiori, director of public safety, left, and then-director of corporate services Carl Bird sit on either side of him.

Elaine Macdonald-Grundy, Chang's business partner at TC Enterprises since 1989 said Chang first came to the city in 1975 and that his associates were devastated by the loss.

"We have lost a great leader and we are all devastated," she said Monday. "There is going to be a funeral service in Ontario with his family on Saturday. We are planning - and the date has not been determined - a memorial service in Yellowknife."

The funeral will be take place at Glen Oaks Funeral Home and Cemetery in Oakville, Ont. Oct. 31, at 3 p.m. According to his death notice, he is survived by his daughter Tara and several siblings.

"He is greatly missed by his many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends," the notice states.

Chang's brother Francis Chang said a statement will be released in the coming days but requested a period of privacy in the wake of the loss.

Former mayor Gord Van Tighem said Chang, with a background as an electrician, slowly evolved into a major real estate developer by purchasing a house to sell and then added apartments and investments to his portfolio over time.

According to Chang's website, properties under TC Enterprises include Boston Pizza, Arnica Inn, Centre One, Diamond Glass, Yellowknife Chrysler, the Executive building and a number of apartments.

Van Tighem said he worked closely with Chang when the developer was chair of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Board in the early 1990s and the two started with the hospital foundation around that time.

"He was a very good businessman and he was a person who had an interest in the community because he was building in the community," Van Tighem said. "He certainly had his frustrations with the community but everyone that builds there has that."

Van Tighem said he served Chang as a bank manager and saw the developer involved in "significant" projects since the '90s including a row of houses along Borden Drive and the city's attempt at building eco-housing in the downtown core.

Long-time Yellowknifers remember Chang not only as a developer of buildings in town but as a karate teacher with his former company Bodyworks, in the Executive building on 52 Street.

"We go back quite a ways," said Andy Wong. "When I first moved to Yellowknife we used to practise karate together."

Jimmy Kong, owner of the Northern Lites Motel and a number of other businesses in town, said he was a former partner of Chang's for a few years when he first arrived in Yellowknife in the '80s. The two ran a restaurant service at the airport and had retained a friendship that lasted for 28 years.

"He was a good guy and I feel so shocked and sorry when I heard the news on (Sunday)," he said.

Other people in the business community said they were saddened to hear the news as it was learned Sunday and Monday.

Mike Bradshaw, executive director at NWT Chamber of Commerce, said Chang was a great contributor to the community and much of his work was not as widely known by the public as it could have been.

"He is going to be missed," Bradshaw said, adding he has known him for about 10 years. He tended to do a lot of things behind the scenes without any acknowledgement or recognition and he sort of typified a good corporate citizen. He really didn't like to talk about himself."

Bradshaw said he was grateful for the support Chang provided to organizations like the chamber of commerce because "it was the right thing to do."

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