Tribute to Keith Chen

Keith Chen
Past Chairperson
CFEA Board of Directors

On November 12, 2021 surrounded by family and close friends Keith Chen passed away. The loss of Keith will be felt by many as he was a wonderful dad, husband, mentor and friend.

As some may know Keith had a love of food and created Culinary Destinations, a hors d’oeuvre company, that made the most delicious ethnic appy’s. We came to meet Keith through this company when he was looking to expand beyond Ontario. Keith immediately became an advocate of the association and joined the board in 2004 and continued to serve until 2019. We were also fortunate to have him as our chairperson from 2007-2017.

Keith attended several government meetings in support of CFEA and actively participated in trade missions to grow his business. It was always a pleasure having Keith at these meetings/missions as his positivity and strength were contagious to the group.

Keith was also an avid traveller and we have fond memories of conversations about the countries he visited and how much he loved Air Canada, being super elite and his favourite hotel chain, the Marriott.

During some of our travels together we got to experience Keith’s adventurous side when it came to food. We would sit and watch him experiment with different items that weren’t always recognizable. He had no fear of trying new and exotic things.

We are honoured that we had the opportunity to have Keith as part of the association and as a dear friend for so many years and we will miss him immensely.

Keith, until we meet again, rest in peace!


Below are some pictures of a trip Keith took with the CFEA to China. After the meetings in Shanghai and Beijing we had the opportunity to take some time to visit the Yu Garden in Shanghai as well as the Summer Palace and Great Wall in Beijing.