“The visionary founder of Wuthelam Group and a respected philanthropist passed away peacefully this morning with family members by his side,” the Singapore-based paint and coatings company, which Goh founded, said in a statement cited by Bloomberg.
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Goh Cheng Liang, shareholder of Nippon Paint Holdings and Singapore’s richest billionaire. Photo by Singapore Press/Lianhe Zaobao and Nippon Paint Singapore |
Born in 1927, Goh grew up with his parents and four siblings in a shophouse on River Valley Road in central Singapore and built his career in the paint and property development industries.
He established a paint business called Pigeon Brand in 1949 and opened his first shop in the city-state in 1955. He steadily expanded his business and eventually formed a partnership with Nippon Paint, the world’s fourth-largest paint maker. By 1962, his firm had become the Japanese paint giant’s main distributor in the city-state, according to The Business Times.
In 1974, Goh established Wuthelam, which he expanded into a global conglomerate. His group currently owns nearly 60% of Nippon Paint Holdings. Among his family’s other investments were the former Liang Court and Mount Elizabeth Hospital, both of which Goh developed and later sold.
Known to shy away from the media, Goh frequently appeared on Forbes’ Singapore rich list. The magazine’s 2025 billionaire ranking in April named him as the city-state’s wealthiest person.
Goh was also widely recognized for his philanthropy, with a particular focus on support for underprivileged students and medical research into cancer treatment.
A cancer survivor himself, he funded cancer treatment initiatives, offered bursaries and scholarships, and donated to various welfare agencies over the years.
His charitable work took on a more formal structure in 1995 with the creation of the Goh Foundation. Through the foundation, he helped with the establishment of the National Cancer Centre in Singapore, as well as its later expansions, including the Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre, which offers advanced proton beam radiation treatment.
The tycoon also backed research into improved treatments for rheumatological and immunological disorders through a program at the Singapore General Hospital and helped build roads, clean water supplies and schools in his ancestral hometown of Dawu Village in Chaozhou, China.
Goh leaves behind three children, along with eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
In a statement on Tuesday, his eldest son, Goh Hup Jin, described him as “a beacon of kindness and strength.”
“We are very fortunate to have had him show us how to be a good person – he taught us to live life with compassion and humility,” he said, as quoted by The Straits Times.
