[1] He was educated at Diocesan Boys' School in Mong Kok,[2] before earning bachelor's and master's degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964.

[4] After finishing his studies, Lee returned to Hong Kong to join Prudential Enterprise, the real estate company founded by his father and uncle in 1958.

[13][14][15][16][17] By 2019 Lee had become the largest shareholder in Shaftesbury plc a large London real estate investment trust with a 26.3 per cent stake.

[29][30] Lee donated $118 million in 2015 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be used to establish a real estate entrepreneurship lab focused on China.

[38][27][39][40] Samuel's son, Samathur Li Kin-kan, is famous for his divorce settlement, which the court of Hong Kong awarded his ex-wife HK$1.2 billion.