Tan Yu (; 5 April 1927 – 12 March 2002) was a

Chinese-Filipino Chinese Filipinos; tl, Tsinoy, / Tsinong Pilipino, ; Hokkien in the Philippines, Philippine Hokkien , Mandarin Chinese in the Philippines, Mandarin (also known as Filipino Chinese in the Philippines) are Filipinos of Chinese descent, mo ...

philanthropist and businessman who founded the Asiaworld Internationale Group and established the KTTI Foundation, which provided scholarships to and supported the education of thousands of young students. In 1997, Forbes listed Tan Yu as the 7th wealthiest person in the world, estimating his net worth to be about $7 billion. He was placed amongst the top 10 in the world on the Forbes List of World Billionaires 1997, making him wealthiest man in the Philippines.

Early life

Originally from

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

province in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Yu and his family moved to the Philippines at a young age. He began making a living in the province of

Camarines Norte Camarines Norte ( bcl, Amihanan na Camarines; fil, Hilagang Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Norte, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet, Camarin ...

through selling bread buns in the streets and doing some fishing. He graduated from

University of St. La Salle The University of St. La Salle (USLS) is a Roman Catholic Church, Catholic private university, private research university run by the De La Salle Brothers Philippines, De La Salle Brothers, located in La Salle Avenue, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, ...

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

, and in 1997, received an honorary doctorate of science degree from the

New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...

. By the age of 18, he had established a successful textile business.

Business Interests

During his lifetime, he planned to develop his private islands

Fuga Fuga Island is an island and barangay located north of Luzon and is part of the Babuyan Islands, which is the second-northernmost island group of the Philippines. Barangay Fuga Island is one of the 42 barangays under the jurisdiction of the munic ...

and

Barit Barit (historically Bari) is a small, wooded, privately owned island in northern Cagayan, Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of Barangay Fuga Island in the municipality of Aparri. Location and geography Barit Island is north of Luzon Is ...

, two of the northernmost islands in the Philippines, into a resort in the Pacific for businessmen and tourists. Under the company Asiaworld, he possessed more land in the Philippines than the government, as well as possessing overseas assets in the form of property, hotels and banks. His key holdings included the Asiaworld Plaza Hotel in Taiwan, over 200 Hectares of prime land in

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

and the Islands of Fuga and Barit.

Personal life and death

Tan Yu died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, in 2002 at the age of 74.

Jose de Venecia Jose Claveria de Venecia Jr. (), also known as JDV, Joe De V or Manong Joe (born December 26, 1936), is a former Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, serving from 1992 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2008. As Speaker, he was the f ...

, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines, commended his achievements as a great businessman and as a philanthropist, for providing jobs to a number of Philippine people. He was posthumously honored with the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Award for Excellence. His children continue to live in the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the US. In the

Story Arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

2078 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 ( 21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is l ...

edition of the Philippines comic strip series

Pugad Baboy ''Pugad Baboy'' (literally, "swine's nest" in Tagalog) is a comic strip created by Filipino cartoonist Apolonio "Pol" Medina, Jr. The strip is about a Manila community of mostly obese people – "fat as pigs" (''baboy'' is Tagalog for pig). It ...

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA , ; fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino or ''Pandaigdigang Paliparan ng Ninoy Aquino''; ), originally known and still commonly referred to as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main ...

was named as Tan Yu International Airport (TYIA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanyu 1927 births 2002 deaths Businesspeople in agriculture Filipino businesspeople in real estate Filipino billionaires Filipino philanthropists Chinese emigrants to the Philippines Naturalized citizens of the Philippines Businesspeople from Fujian University of St. La Salle alumni New Jersey Institute of Technology alumni People from Jinjiang, Fujian 20th-century philanthropists