SIMIC

The chairman emeritus of the company that is now run by his son, Teo Siong Seng, founded PIL in 1967, noted Singapore's Splash 247."With his vision and energy, he turned a small coastal operator with only two ships into the company we are so proud of today. His tremendous wisdom and steady hands were born of struggle in his youth," SS Teo stated in a note to employees.

Mr Chang was a rags-to-riches billionaire: he reportedly spent one year in prison as a Chinese refugee in what was then Malaya for supplying food and medicine to resistance fighters.

Mr Chang grew PIL to become one of the largest shipping lines in Southeast Asia, creating plenty of other interests too, not least the container manufacturer, Singamas.