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Lee Foundation Landmark Gift
The Lee Foundation Landmark Gift has been established at the Singapore Management Univeristy with a gift of S$50 million by the Lee Foundation in honour of the late Dr Lee Kong Chian, well-known Southeast Asian Businessman, philanthropist and community leader. With a 3:1 matching grant from the Singapore Government, the gift amounts to a total sum of S$200 million - the largest ever contribution to a Singapore tertiary institution and one of a handful of over-US$100million-gifts made to universities worldwide.
In recognition of the Lee Foundation's generosity, SMU has named in perpetuity the School of Business , the building and the university-wide scholars programme after Dr Lee Kong Chian. The School of Business is called the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, the building is the Lee Kong Chian Building , and the scholars programme is known as the Lee Kong Chian Scholars Programme. A Fund for Excellence will also be launched to enhance SMU's ability to compete with premier universities in the world, to attract, develop and retain outstanding international faculty.
About Lee Kong Chian and The Lee Foundation
A fampus philanthropist and a firm believer in the value of education, the late Dr Lee Kong Chian was born in the village of Furong , Fujian Province in 1893. In 1903, he joined his father in Singapore and studied here for a few years before taking up a scholarship to study at Chi Nan School in Nanjing in 1911.
In 1915, Lee Kong Chian joined the China Guohua Company and soon caught the attention of Tan Kah Kee and joined the Tan Kah Kee Rubber Company. By 1931, he ventured out to start his own rubber business. The Lee Rubber Company grew rapidly into a multi-million dollar business and together with the success of his pineapple business, Lee Kong Chian was popularly known as the "Rubber and Pineapple King" and widely recognised as one of the richest men in Southeast Asia . He expanded his business to banking and real estate and by 1962, he became Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).
Lee Kong Chian poured his wealth into education and other philanthropic work. In 1958, at a time when charity was highly dependent on the rise and fall of business fortunes, the Lee Foundation was established as a philanthropic institution. Many education institutions in Singapore benefited from his generosity. In particular, The Chinese High School, under this chairmanship from 1934 - 1957, was able to refocus its attention on providing quality education, after experiencing many obstacles and repeated threats of closures. Lee Kong Chian did not forget his homeland in his contributions towards education. In 1939, he founded and financed the Guozhuan Primary School in his home villahe of Furong and in 1943, he set up the Guoguang Secondary School .
In 1962, Lee Kong Chian became the first Asian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Singapore . His work and generous contributions to education and society were recognized when he was conferred an honorary degree in law by the University of Malaya in 1958 and in 1964, the Agong of Malaysia bestowed on him the title Panglime Mangku Negara. An unassuming man who never lost the "popular touch", Lee Kong Chian remained academically inclined throughout his life, giving night classes while working for the municipality, and also lectured at the Columbia University while stranded in the United States during World War II.
He left a major portion of his wealth to the Lee Foundation and continues, to date, to make a difference to education and society.
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