Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, who turned 90 in April, is survived by wife Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua, and their six children and 19 grandchildren. Photo: APKUALA LUMPUR (AFP), October 23, 2007:
Malaysia's 'Casino King' Mr Lim Goh Tong, who turned a jungle hilltop into one of the world's most successful casino resorts, died on Tuesday, the firm he founded said. He was 90.
Mr Lim developed the hilltop Genting Highlands casino resort in the 1960s and founded the Genting group, which grew into a conglomerate comprising listed companies on the Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong bourses.
He was ranked 204th on the Forbes 2007 list of billionaires worldwide, with his family's assets valued at 4.2 billion dollars.
'Lim's life is a story of rags to riches and it is hard to find a similar success story in this country,' Housing Minister Ong Ka Ting said at a traditional Chinese celebration of Lim's birthday in April 2007.
Besides gaming operations in Malaysia and Britain, as well as one planned for Singapore, Genting has interests in the leisure, power, oil and gas, property and plantation sectors.
Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Star Cruises, is the third-largest cruise operator in the world. Another subsidiary, Genting International, owns Stanley Leisure, the United Kingdom's largest casino operator.
Born in 1918 in China's Fujian province, Mr Lim was 19 when he moved as a poor immigrant to Malaya, as Malaysia was then known.
Mr Lim was married to Lee Kim Hua, with whom he had six children.
Copyright: AFP
