The heart of Baldwin Street: Chu and Ngan Ko's legacy lives on
When Chu and Ngan Ko arrived in Toronto from Hong Kong in 1967 with their five children, they were starting over in a new country, learning a new language and building a life from the ground up. But they had resilience – and Mr. Ko’s culinary skills. Together, they worked 16-hour days in restaurant kitchens, saving enough to buy a small kosher butcher shop on Baldwin Street – a community shaped by earlier Jewish immigrants pursuing the same dream of opportunity. In its place, they opened Yung Sing Pastry Shop, Toronto’s first authentic Hong Kong bakery.
For 40 years, they ran the bakery side by side: Mr. Ko baking in the basement and Ngan welcoming customers upstairs. Their children grew up among trays of BBQ pork buns and custard tarts, absorbing lessons in humility, hard work and service to others. Yung Sing became more than a bakery; it was a beloved community hub.
Those same values shaped Mr. Ko’s gratitude for Canada’s health-care system. When Ngan suffered a heart attack, Mount Sinai Hospital cared for her with compassion and dignity, despite language barriers. Even years later, when Ngan was living in a Scarborough nursing home, she insisted on returning to Mount Sinai for her care.
Before his passing in 2020, Mr. Ko quietly updated his will to include a generous Legacy gift to Sinai Health’s Geriatrics program – a final act of thanks, and a reflection of a life defined by courage, perseverance and giving back.
