Passing of former Chancellor S R Nathan

The University mourns the passing of its Eminent Alumnus Mr S R Nathan, the sixth President of the Republic of Singapore and fifth Chancellor of the National University of Singapore. Mr Nathan, aged 92, passed away on 22 August. He served two terms of Presidency, from 1999 to 2011, making him Singapore’s longest-serving President.

Warmly regarded as “the people’s president”, Mr Nathan has always been an inspiration for Singaporeans and the University community. He had contributed exceptionally to the development of Singapore in many capacities during his long and distinguished career in the public sector.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of Mr Nathan’s passing. Mr Nathan was a great man with a strong sense of duty to others. He was a highly respected leader and had served Singapore and Singaporeans with distinction in his various roles in the public sectors, as Singapore’s longest-serving President as well as NUS Chancellor. NUS mourns the loss of an illustrious alumnus, and sends our heartfelt condolences to Mrs Nathan and the family,” said NUS Chairman Mr Wong Ngit Liong.

During his term as NUS Chancellor, Mr Nathan advocated strong support for the University’s educational and research initiatives and championed its vision of becoming a global university. He had graciously hosted numerous University events at the Istana, presided at NUS Commencement ceremonies, and was a familiar figure at faculty events and student activities, especially at the NUS Students’ Union signature fundraising Rag and Flag event.

Under his distinguished patronage, the NUS Centennial Campaign, which was launched in 2002, surpassed its goal ahead of the NUS Centennial celebrations in 2005. Ever supportive of his alma mater, Mr Nathan’s personal appeal letter to fellow alumni helped raise about $1 million for the launch of the University’s Annual Giving drive in 2005. He was presented with the NUS Eminent Alumni Award in 2007.

NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, who had worked closely with Mr Nathan during his term as NUS Chancellor, said, “Mr Nathan’s distinguished achievements as a civil servant, ambassador and statesman is an inspiration to all of us. It was a great honour and privilege to have had the opportunity to interact with and learn from Mr Nathan on many occasions when he was the Chancellor of NUS. The NUS community has benefitted tremendously from Mr Nathan’s visionary leadership as our Chancellor. Whenever he attended university functions, Mr Nathan had always made himself available to students and generously shared his perspectives and experiences with them. All of us at NUS mourn the passing of a distinguished alumnus and an inspirational leader.”

Mr Nathan played an instrumental role in reviving the Raffles Museum as the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS. A long-time friend of the museum, he strongly supported many of its fundraising activities between 2009 and 2011.

Mr Nathan was conferred the Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University in 2012 for his exemplary contributions to Singapore and his leadership, guidance and support to NUS during his Chancellorship. In his citation, Mr Nathan was described as “the great man whose sense of duty to others has led him to take the path less trodden, in forging a life’s journey that, in some ways, began at this university”.

Mr Nathan (left) receiving the Honorary Doctor of Letters from Singapore President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam

In 2013, Mr Nathan lent his support to set up the S R Nathan Professorship in Social Work, enabling the University to uphold the long-term goal of promoting education and research in social work among scholars in Singapore and Asia on issues related to social development, poverty and asset building. That same year, he also raised most of the funds to set up the Leo Tan Professorship in Biodiversity for the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. The Professorship was in honour of Professor Leo Tan, Mr Nathan’s long-time friend whom he saw as a champion of Singapore’s natural environment.

“I have known Mr Nathan since 1982 when I was the Director and CEO of the Singapore Science Centre. As Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings, he supported the Science Centre both materially and personally. My links with him continued through my stewardship at the National Institute of Education, chairmanship of the National Parks Board and again when Peter Ng and I approached him to support fundraising activities for the Singapore Biodiversity Encyclopedia at NUS. When we had to raise funds for the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Mr Nathan once again readily agreed to rally donors to the cause. I was and continue to be amazed by the personal interest and support he gave for the natural science and environmental causes brought to his attention. My admiration of and friendship with Mr Nathan grew over the decades of our relationship. Whenever we met, he would provide little nuggets of wisdom about life and talked about food which he relished,” Prof Tan recounted.

“What surprised me most was when he invited me to a private lunch and revealed to me that he had raised enough funding to name a Professorship in my name. I had no inkling of this secret venture till that lunch. It was a humbling moment for me to realise that this great man went out of his way to personally spearhead this task. He saw the incredulous look in my face as he told me what he had done. I was overwhelmed by his magnanimity and am more than grateful to him for his efforts. He was a real gentleman and humanitarian. He was truly a man for others, always humble and looking out for the less fortunate in society, and that includes the protection of our biodiversity and environment for the benefit of all Singaporeans,” Prof Tan added.

Also in 2013, the Institute of Policy Studies at NUS’ Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy set up the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore where an S R Nathan Fellow will be appointed each academic year to pursue research in areas such as politics and governance; economy and business; demography and family; society and identity; as well as arts, culture and media. To date, two Fellows have been appointed under this initiative.

Last year, Mr Nathan was conferred the Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award (Lifetime Achievement) in recognition of his exceptional contributions towards the development of the Faculty, the University, Singapore and globally.

At the South Asian Diaspora Convention earlier this year, Mr Nathan was conferred the Outstanding Member of the South Asian Diaspora 2016 award at the gala dinner, for his long-standing, dedicated and notable work in forging closer bilateral links between Singapore and India.

Mr Nathan, who graduated with a Diploma in Social Studies in 1954 from the University of Malaya — NUS’ predecessor institution, was among the pioneer batch of social work students. He began his career as a medical social worker, and later served as a seaman’s welfare officer. During a critical period of Singapore’s history before the nation’s independence in 1965, he served as a trade union mediator.

Mr Nathan held a stellar 50-year career in the Civil Service, notably in the Foreign Affairs and Defence ministries, and as a Diplomat. He was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Director of the Security and Intelligence Division of the Ministry of Defence, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ambassador to the US, Ambassador-at-Large and Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.

Among other achievements, he campaigned for seafarers’ welfare in the 1950s, negotiated with hijackers during the Laju incident of 1974 and founded the President’s Challenge in 2000 to encourage people of all ages and from all walks of life to strengthen “the spirit of community caring and volunteerism”.

Throughout his life, Mr Nathan lived by his simple adage where his “conscience” was his “compass”. In his own words, “Duty — to friends and family, to my fellow men, to country — is paramount to my view of life, and I have tried my best to live up to this ethic.”

Some 40 NUS students and staff paid their last respects to Mr Nathan on 25 August, as he lay in state at Parliament House.