Ong Teng Cheong

Born on 22 January 1936, Ong was the second of five children from a middle-class Singaporean family. Ong graduated with distinctions from The Chinese High School (now the High School Section of Hwa Chong Institution) in 1955. 

In 1956, with the help of his father's friends, Ong traveled abroad and went on to study architecture at the University of Adelaide along with his childhood sweetheart and future spouse, Ling Siew May.

After graduation in 1962, Ong worked as an architect in Adelaide, and married Ling in 1963.

In 1965, Ong received a Colombo Plan scholarship to pursue a master's degree in urban planning at the University of Liverpool and graduated in 1967. In the same year, he joined the Singapore Ministry of National Development as a town planner. After four years of civil service, Ong resigned and started his own architectural firm, Ong & Ong Architects, with his wife.

Ong's political career spanned 21 years. He was a member of parliament (MP), Cabinet Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, before he resigned to become the fifth president of Singapore, winning the 1993 Singaporean presidential election and serving a six-year term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999. He was Singapore's first elected president and was named the People's President by Singaporeans.

Throughout his career, Ong Teng Cheong supported his alma mater and was instrumental in the establishment of the Adelaide Alumni Chapter in Singapore inaugurated on 28 May 1995.  He continued to take considerable interest in the Chapter’s development over the following years and in 2000 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award.

On 8 February 2002, at the age of 66, Mr Ong died in his sleep from lymphoma.