John D Chang, October 21st, 1940 - March 3rd, 2025

It is difficult to write about one whose life has touched so many people. John D Chang was born in Jamaica October 21st, 1940 and passed away on March 3rd, 2025 in Kissimmee, Florida. He was 84 years old and left a legacy.

John D ChangJohn worked in the financial services industry most of his life starting with First National City Bank in the 1960’s. He was transferred to Citi Bank headquarters in Manhattan NY from the international division in 1974 where he became AVP in the Comptrollers Office. During his tenure there, he went to develop bank branches in Australia, Asia, South America and Puerto Rico. He turned down an offer to transfer to London in 1978, and instead moved to Florida to start his own mortgage and real estate companies. He used the skills from his banking experience and formed Preferred Financial Services and Preferred Mortgage Corporation in 1982. With those companies, he promoted financial education and opportunities, especially for new immigrants from Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Preferred Mortgage Corporation was one of the first (if not, the first) minority owned company that earned the status of having a “Mini-Eagle” to directly insure FHA Mortgage Loans.

Every once in a while, a great leader is born among us, and John Chang was one such person. A great leader is not only one who cares about the people he leads, but also has to be a visionary, being able to look into the future and see what it holds. He spent a lot of his time training and instructing people new to the Mortgage and Real Estate business. His goal was to get everyone possible to buy a home, not for the sake of generating business, instead he understood that homeownership is the beginning of creating generational wealth. He had a passion for the Caribbean community, especially those who were new immigrants to the US.

He was also supportive of minority owned businesses. He encouraged those in his circle to buy from those businesses even if their prices were higher or even if the standard of service was lower than expected. His justification was, “how can we expect them to get better if we don’t give them a chance”. He was looking to the future when those companies will, over time, gain knowledge and skills to be competitive in the open market.

John often talked about the concept of remote work before COVID caused that to be popular. When laptops were the size of a large briefcase and cell phones were like a brick, John used to say, “that is your office! Schedule your meeting in a hotel lobby, buy the clients a cup of coffee and conduct your meeting/transaction right there”. Fast forward 20+ years later and the country has now caught up with a concept honed in John’s mind decades earlier.

I was blessed to have John as a mentor in the Mortgage business for almost 10 years. He is a true leader and there are many immigrants to the US whose start in business and home ownership began with John Chang, He will be greatly missed.

Richard Keen, Former employee & Friend