He was the only son in a family of four children, and spent his childhood working as a farm hand before he decided to set sail to Malaya to seek his fortune.

His relatives recommended him for his first job at Kwong Man General Store, a provision shop in Market Street and earned $20 a month.

His tin-mining business suddenly took an upswing, and Loke then went on to acquire and own many more tin mines, and rubber and coconut plantations in Perak.

He also ventured into supplying provisions to British troops during the Perak War, running a pawnbroking business, and even obtained monopoly for liquor sales, gambling licences and other privileges from the colonial government.

[3] Loke's other assets included several hundred hectares of land, real estate and properties in both Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong and China.

In 1936, his son, Loke Wan Tho, along with his fourth wife, Lim Cheng Kim established Associated Theatres Ltd—later renamed Cathay Organisation.

He sent some of his children to Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, Scotland, for their formal education that was unfortunately interrupted by the onset of World War I whereupon they returned home to British Malaya.

The Cheow home which was built between 1860 and 1862 with the famous Ching dynasty "Painted Gate" has been incorporated into the rear portion of the current Loke Mansion.

The Loke Mansion, accessible within walking distance from the  MR9  Medan Tuanku Monorail station, was renovated and partially restored in late 2007 by the law firm Cheang and Ariff, who have leased the property from its owner.

Loke Villa in Penang was one of the first houses in South East Asia to possess an intercom system linking all the main rooms due to its sprawling nature.

There is a story that one rainy day his wife went in their car to fetch him home from their estate and found him soaking wet, with a hoe in hand showing a coolie how to dig.

The successful businessman also strongly believed in the importance of education and was one of the founders, together with Thamboosamy Pillai, who established Victoria Institution and even donated a large sum of money to Methodist Boys' School Kuala Lumpur for them to build a field.

He was the first Chinese to be awarded an honorary degree by the university, and Loke Yew Hall in HKU was subsequently named in his honour.

This road in KL is also known for its high traffic volume and congestion especially during peak hours, for its low-cost flats and the Viva Home shopping complex.

Loke Yew left an estate estimated at over £10 million[9] a business empire composed of rubber plantations, factories and banks.

[10] It is currently in less than ideal condition but repairs (funded by his grandchildren, Ruby Loke Yuen Kin and Choo Mei Leen) have been effected as much as possible within the constraints of custom and the lack of skilled artisans nowadays (a lot of the decorations involve bas-relief, which were chipped off and otherwise damaged by unknown vandals and would entail wholesale replacement of the underlying material for complete restoration and thus would amount to desecration of the gravesite if done).