Hilton Cheong-Leen, now 96, was the first ethnic Chinese chairman of the Urban Council which was responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, including leisure and cultural facilities, and overseeing sanitation and hygiene issues. He also co-founded one of the city’s first political organisations, the Hong Kong Civic Association, in 1954. Over several decades he helped to improve living standards for the city’s poorest and established nine years of free compulsory school…