Margaret Liu Collins was born in 1941 in Chongqing, China and traveled to California to attend college in 1959. Margaret details her childhood in war-time China, her family’s Shanghai roots, and their move to Hong Kong in 1948. At age 13, at the encouragement of a neighbor, Margaret became a Christian and since then her faith has served as a primary source of guidance and comfort. Margaret discusses motherhood to children Magdalene and Sam, the dissolution of her first marriage, and her decision to leave teaching for real estate in 1975. After a hardscrabble start Margaret’s career took off and she quickly established herself as a successful commercial real estate agent for important investors in Hong Kong. In 1978 she met her future husband, attorney Ted Collins, through a real estate deal. Margaret describes her son’s 1979 car accident, her courtship with and later marriage to Ted Collins, their blended family, and their joint Commerce, Industry, and Labor ventures. The interview closes with a discussion of Margaret’s many philanthropic contributions including her relationship to UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Symphony. Following Margaret’s interview are short interviews with her husband Ted Collins and her stepdaughter Blair Maus.
Note
Collins, Margaret Liu. "Margaret Liu Collins:
An Oral History." Interview by Richard Cándida Smith and Robin Li in 2011. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2012. Interview date(s) 2011
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