Background
Michael Lee-Chin was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica in 1951. Both his parents were biracial, Black and Chinese Jamaican. When Lee-Chin was aged 7, his mother married Vincent Chen.
Lee-Chin had a son from a previous relationship, and the couple had a further 7 children together, including 6 boys and 1 girl.
His mother sold Avon products, and worked as a bookkeeper for various local firms, while his stepfather ran a local grocery store. He attended the local high school, Titchfield High, between 1962 and 1969.
His first job came in 1965 working as part of the landscaping team at the Frenchman's Cove Hotel. In 1966 he got a summer job working on the Jamaica Queen cruise ship, cleaning the engine room.
In 1970 he went to Canada on a scholarship program sponsored by the Jamaican Government to study Civil Engineering at McMaster University, and graduated in 1974. In the first year at the University, he was spending by his own money. After the first summer, he received the scholarship.
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