Lee Chin Koon

Lee Chin Koon (; 1 June 1903 – 12 October 1997) was a Singaporean storekeeper, manager, and salesman who was formerly employed with the Shell Oil Company. Prominently, he was the father of Lee Kuan Yew and the paternal grandfather of Lee Hsien Loong, the third Prime Minister of Singapore respectively.

Early life and career Lee was born on 1 June 1903 in the port city of Semarang, Central Java, during Dutch colonial rule. He was from an upper-class family of Straits Chinese descent and was raised in an English-speaking household. His mother, Indonesian-Peranakan Ko Liem Nio (1883–1959), was local to Semarang while his father, Hakka-Peranakan Lee Hoon Leong (; 1871–1942), was born in Singapore. Lee Hoon Leong, worked as a pharmacist and later became a purser at Heap Eng Moh Shipping Line. Lee's paternal grandfather, Li Muwen, was a merchant who had previously done business in Singapore before returning to the Lee family's ancestral home in Tangxi village, Dabu County, where he built the Zhonghandi house.

When Lee was five, his family moved to Singapore, where he studied at St. Joseph's Institution.

In 1957, he helped his son Lee Kuan Yew campaign at the Tanjong Pagar by-election.

Personal life Lee married Chua Jim Neo (1905–1980) on 20 May 1922 when he was 18 and she was 16 in a traditional Chinese arranged marriage by Chua's family. Together they had 5 children including the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. In 1945, Lee and Chua bought a bungalow at 38 Oxley Road.

In 1959, after Lee Kuan Yew was elected Prime Minister, Lee led a mostly private life, having told a cousin, "I don't like publicity."

Death Lee died on 12 October 1997 at the age of 94. His wife had died in 1980.