Mr. Jack Ho was born at Guangzhou in 1899. His father Mr. Ho Chu had resided in the United States prior to his birth, having had gone there when 13 years of age and worked up from a grocery store clerk to part owner and manager of Soy Kee and Company in Alott Street, New York, one of the oldest and most important Chinese concerns in America. The elder Ho on returning to China put into practice the American chain store idea becoming manager of fourteen retail establishments.
Mr. Ho received his early education in Guangzhou and then went to the United States at the age of 14. Eventually he attended and graduated from New York University.
Though urged to return to China young Mr. Ho wished to try his fortunes in the United States and found his opportunity in the purchase of Vantine’s Oriental store in New York. Under Mr. Ho’s management Vantine’s was moved to 39th Street a few steps from Fifth Avenue in the neighborhood of such renowned stores as Tiffany’s and Altman’s. Vantine’s enjoyed a wide reputation for the quality and exclusiveness of its lines of Chinese, Japanese, Philippine, Japanese and Indian goods.
