Khoo Teck Puat

Khoo Teck Puat
A bust of Khoo in the lobby of Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore
Born	(1917-01-13)13 January 1917
Died	21 February 2004(2004-02-21) (aged 87)
Cause of death	heart attack
Nationality	Malaysian (1957–1981) Australian (1981–1994) Singaporean (1994–2004)
Education	St Joseph's Institution
Known for	Singapore's richest man Philanthropist; fugitive in the banking scandal of the National Bank of Brunei. Son Eric Khoo is a filmmaker and Cultural Medallion recipient.
Net worth	S$2.6 billion (2004)
Spouse(s)	Tan Geok Yin (deceased 1972)
Children	Khoo Bee See, Khoo Ban Hock, Khoo Bee Keng, Khoo Bee Leng, Khoo Ban Tian, Khoo Bee Lian, Khoo Bee Lay, Mavis Khoo, Margaret Khoo, Sandra Khoo, Elizabeth Khoo, Linda Khoo, Jennifer Khoo, Jacqueline Khoo, Eric Khoo
Parent(s)	Mr and Mrs Khoo Yang Tin

Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat (Chinese: 邱德拔; pinyin: Qiū Dé Bá; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khu Tik-pua̍t; 13 January 1917 – 21 February 2004) was a banker and hotel owner, who, with an estimated fortune of S$4.3 billion, was the wealthiest man in Singapore at one point. He owned the Goodwood Group of boutique hotels in London and Singapore and was the largest single shareholder of the British bank Standard Chartered. The bulk of his fortune came from shares in Standard Chartered, which he bought up in the 1980s to help thwart Lloyds Bank's proposed acquisition which many financiers deemed hostile. The Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore, built in 1900, is a restored historic landmark.

Around the period of his death in 2004, Khoo was ranked as the 108th richest person in the world by the business magazine Forbes . Khoo's estate has donated S$80 million to Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

Khoo received his early education in St Joseph's Institution in Singapore in 1930. He was educated up to standard eight prior to his marriage at the age of 17, and started working in the bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) as an apprentice bank clerk by 1933. While attached with OCBC, Khoo served as the Chairman of Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board for a year in 1958. His rise in OCBC was rapid and he developed strong ties with Tan Chin Tuan until they had a difference of opinion which resulted him leaving OCBC in 1959 as the General Manager. He argued that OCBC was growing far too slowly and not opening enough branches in the smaller towns in Peninsular Malaya.