Former Cabinet Minister Lim Kim San dies
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SINGAPORE : Former Cabinet Minister Lim Kim San has died a few months before his 90th birthday.
One of his sons-in-law told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Lim died of natural causes on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Lim was best known as "Mr HDB" for his role in providing low-cost housing for thousands of Singaporeans in the 1960s.
Born in Singapore in 1916, he was educated at Anglo-Chinese School and Raffles College.
During the Japanese Occupation, he was tortured after he denied allegations that he was pro-communist and pro-British.
He later said the brutality of the Japanese forces politicised his generation.
After the war, he made his first million when he came up with a machine to produce sago pearls cheaply.
He then went on to become a director of several banks and was appointed chairman of the new Housing Development Board in 1960.
He solved Singapore's housing problem by marshalling resources to build 10,000 units a year, a feat unheard of at the time.
In the 1963 General Election, he won the Cairnhill seat and was appointed National Development Minister.
During his long and distinguished public career, Mr Lim also held Cabinet posts in Finance, Defence, Education and Environment.
After retiring from politics in 1980, Mr Lim held various posts, among them Executive Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings, and Chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisors.
He was also the first Chancellor of the Singapore Management University.
Mr Lim's family are in the process of making the wake and funeral arrangements.
When contacted by Channel NewsAsia, family members said Mr Lim died peacefully at about 5.30pm on Thursday at his Dalvey Road residence.
They said he had been ill for sometime.
Mr Lim's wake is likely to be held at the family's Dalvey Road home. - CNA /ct -
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darn...
RIP dude
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He was sick for quite a long time already actually
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My condolences to one of the old guard.
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ripe old age.
RIP.