Former President Tony Tan Keng Yam has been appointed Honorary Patron and Distinguished Senior Fellow at SMU. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said the offer was made to Dr Tan after he stepped down as President on Aug 31, and he accepted the following month. “Dr Tan was instrumental in the creation of SMU," Prof De Meyer said. "During his term as President of Singapore, he was our Patron and, hence, it was fitting that our Board of Trustees offered him the honorary patron title for his many contributions to SMU."

He added that SMU is honoured to have Dr Tan in its midst and “hope that our faculty and staff will be able to benefit from his insights, based on his outstanding career in academia, business and government”.  Dr Tan helped envision SMU as a university focusing on management, business and economics and had approached veteran businessman and current SMU Board of Trustees Chairman Ho Kwon Ping to help set it up.