Tan Tock Seng (Chen Du Sheng)

Tan Tock Seng (陈笃生)
Born: 1798
Birthplace: Malacca
Died: 1850
Age: 52
Achievement: Setting up Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Tan was a prosperous Singapore businessman of the early 1800s, known particularly for his generosity to the poor. He contributed heavily to the 1844 construction of a new hospital for the indigent, which was then named Tan Tock Seng Hospital. After Tan's death in 1850 his son Tan Kim Ching continued the family's support for the hospital, which continues as one of Singapore's most prominent medical centers.

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In 1844, he contributed $5,000 to the construction of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital on top of Pearl's Hill. The hospital was later shifted to Tan Tock Seng Road because the building at Pearl's Hill was too small to cater to enough patients and it was too old. Tan also contributed money to the construction of the Taoist Thian Hock Keng Temple at Telok Ayer in 1842, the place of worship for the settlers from the Fujian province of China.