Tan Yu Explained

Tan Yu
Native Name:鄭周敏
Birth Date:5 April 1927
Birth Place:Shishi, Chinchew, Fukien, China
Citizenship:Filipino[1]
Death Place:Houston, Texas, United States

Tan Yu (; 5 April 1927  - 12 March 2002) was a Chinese-Filipino philanthropist and businessman who founded the Asiaworld Internationale Group[2] and established the KTTI Foundation, which provided scholarships to and supported the education of thousands of young students. In 1997, Forbes listed Tan Yu as the 7th wealthiest person in the world, estimating his net worth to be about $7 billion. He was placed amongst the top 10 in the world on the Forbes List of World Billionaires 1997,[3] [4] making him the wealthiest man in the Philippines.[5]

Early life

Originally from Fujian province in China, Yu and his family moved to the Philippines at a young age. He began making a living in the province of Camarines Norte through selling bread buns in the streets and doing some fishing. He graduated from University of St. La Salle in Bacolod, and in 1997, received an honorary doctorate of science degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.[6] By the age of 18, he had established a successful textile business.[7]

Business career

During his lifetime, he planned to develop his private islands Fuga and Barit, two of the northernmost islands in the Philippines, into a resort in the Pacific for businessmen and tourists.[8] Under the company Asiaworld, he possessed more land in the Philippines than the government, as well as possessing overseas assets in the form of property,[9] hotels[10] and banks.[11]

His key holdings included the Asiaworld Plaza Hotel in Taiwan, over 200 Hectares of prime land in Manila Bay and the Islands of Fuga and Barit.[12]

Personal life and death

Tan Yu died of heart failure in Houston, Texas, in 2002 at the age of 74. Jose de Venecia, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines, commended his achievements as a great businessman and as a philanthropist, for providing jobs to a number of Philippine people.[13] He was posthumously honored with the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Award for Excellence.[14]

His children continue to live in the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the US.[15]

Notes and References

  1. News: Flores . Wilson Lee . Tan Yu & Salvador Araneta . 16 July 2024 . The Philippine Star . 7 November 2001 . But Tan Yu never changed his Filipino citizenship and he never forgot the Philippines.
  2. Web site: Philippe . Lasserre . Players in Asia-Pacific: A Profile . INSEAD Euro-Asia Centre.
  3. News: Bill Gates Tops Forbes List of Billionaires . Los Angeles Times . 1 July 1996.
  4. News: Gates Stays On Top Of Forbes' Richest List -- Asian Tycoons Move Up In Rankings . The Seattle Times . 1 July 1996.
  5. Book: Bay-Hansen, C.D. . Power Geopolitics in the Pacific Age . 2011 . Inkwater Press. 9781592995806 .
  6. News: CNN Asiaweek Interview . CNN Asiaweek . 30 November 2000 . 3 February 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140109084859/http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/0202/biz2.html . 9 January 2014 . dead.
  7. News: Tycoon, Philanthropist Tan Yu dies at 75 . Philippine Headline News.
  8. News: From Backwater to Fantasy Isle: Filipino-Chinese Tycoon Makes an Audacious Move . CNN Asiaweek . 19 August 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927035522/http://cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/0202/biz1.html . 27 September 2011 . dead.
  9. News: Taiwanese Billionaire Tan Yu building homes in Houston . https://archive.today/20120907161616/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1999_3140810/taiwanese-billionaire-building-homes-in-sharpstown.html. dead . 7 September 2012 . Houston Chronicle.
  10. News: Forbes Asia Financial Report . Forbes Magazine.
  11. News: Tan Yu's $12 Billion Empire . CNN Asiaweek . 21 August 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090204123014/http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/0202/biz5.html . 4 February 2009 . dead.
  12. Book: Studwell, Joe . Asian Godfathers - Money and Power in Hong Kong and South East Asia . 23 September 2008 . Atlantic Monthly Press. 9781555848927 .
  13. News: Jose de Venecia Jr. Mourns the Loss the Tycoon . https://archive.today/20120906105522/http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=153811&publicationSubCategoryId=63 . dead . 6 September 2012 . Philippines Star.
  14. Web site: 2008 Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence; Search for Outstanding Chinese-Filipinos . The Manila Times Internet Edition . 28 August 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080419034307/http://www.manilatimes.net/others/rizal.html . 19 April 2008.
  15. News: Lessons from a Tycoon . Philippine Star . dead . https://archive.today/20120707191821/http://208.184.76.175/Article.aspx?articleId=674631&publicationSubCategoryId=86 . 7 July 2012.

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