SMU pays tribute to the late Mr Cheng Tsang Man, the founder of Prima Group who passed away peacefully on Sunday morning at the age of 97.
The late Mr Cheng, who was born in China's Fujian province in 1916, had little formal education. He left for Indonesia when he was eight, and with relentless hard work and determination, set up Prima in 1961. Today the Prima Group is one of the world's largest flour millers with extensive international operations encompassing flour milling, feed milling, agri-business, food manufacturing, FMCG food products, foodservice, franchising, baking and culinary education, bakery equipment agency and information technology.
Prima was one of the early supporters of SMU. In March 2000, just two months after SMU's establishment, Mr Primus Cheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Prima Ltd, made an endowed gift of $1.5 million to SMU to establish the Cheng Tsang Man Professorship in Accountancy in honour of his father. To date, eleven internationally renowned accounting experts have held Visiting Professorships under this gift, conducting joint research with SMU faculty as well as public lectures. In April 2011, to commemorate Prima's 50th anniversary, Mr Primus Cheng made an additional $1 million endowed gift to SMU to establish the School of Accountancy Research Symposium, an annual research symposium which enables faculty from the School of Accountancy to interact with researchers from top schools worldwide.
Mr Primus Cheng remembers his father as a hard-working man: "He was also an honest and honourable businessman, and a family man who loved his family very much."
The late Mr Cheng left behind six children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. We remember this extraordinary gentleman for his generosity towards the advancement of education.