Richard Eu Yee Ming (; born 1947) is a

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Ind ...

businessperson and musician. He is the chairman of healthcare firm

Eu Yan Sang Eu Yan Sang () is a company that specialises in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It currently runs 170 retail outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau, plus four factories in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The group also operates 28 TCM ...

Early life

Richard Eu Yee Ming was born in 1947, to a wealthy

ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

household of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

ancestry. He spent his childhood at the now-demolished Eu Villa, which was once then "one of Singapore's largest homes," that was built by his grandfather,

Eu Tong Sen Eu Tong Sen (; 23 July 1877 – 11 May 1941) was a leading businessman in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was vice-president of the Anti-Opium Society and a member of the Kinta Sanitary Boar ...

. His parents were named Richard Eu Keng Mun (1923-2022) and Diana Eu (1921-2009). The firstborn of four children, Eu went to

Anglo-Chinese School Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) is a family of Methodist schools in Singapore and Indonesia. It was founded in 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham as an extension of the Methodist Church. Anglo-Chinese School is usually abbreviated as "ACS", wi ...

, Singapore for his primary school education. He then later moved to England, where he attended Kent College, Canterbury as well as the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where he obtained a degree in law (LLB). After graduation, he returned to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

in 1971.

Career

Following his return to

, Eu worked for

Slater Walker Slater Walker was a British industrial conglomerate turned bank that got into financial difficulties in the 1970s. It specialised in corporate raids. Its fall shook the British banking system at the time, and it had to be bailed out by the Bank of ...

, a British merchant bank which had acquired control of Haw Par Brothers International (now known as Haw Par Corporation Ltd), a publicly listed company which owned

Tiger Balm Tiger Balm () is an analgesic heat rub manufactured and distributed by Singaporean company Haw Par Healthcare. It is used for external pain relief. History A precursor to Tiger Balm called Ban Kin Yu ( zh, t=萬金油, l=Ten Thousand Gol ...

and other assets. In 1976, he ventured with his uncle, Andrew Eu in Hong Kong by joining a stockbroking business firm and later becoming one of the shareholders of Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd. After his uncle died, Eu returned to Singapore and joined a stockbroking firm known as J Ballas & Co in 1978. He later joined another uncle in taking over a group of companies that was involved in computer sales. In 1990, Eu joined Eu Yan Sang, a

Chinese traditional medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

firm established by his great-grandfather, Eu Kong, as a general manager. He led a series of buyouts from 1993 to 2000 and became CEO soon after listing Eu Yan Sang International in 2000. In 2011, he was awarded the title of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Singapore).

Personal life

Eu is married to Mary (née Chow; born 1955), with whom he has four children – three sons and one daughter. Eu is an amateur musician and released an album titled ''66'' in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eu, Richard Singaporean people of Cantonese descent 1947 births Singaporean people of Chinese descent Living people Singaporean businesspeople