S. R. Nathan

S. R. Nathan entered public service as a medical social worker in 1955 and then worked on seamen’s welfare and labor affairs. He moved to the Foreign Ministry in 1966 and later held senior positions in home affairs and defense. During the Laju hostage crisis in 1974, he joined officials who volunteered to replace hostages and negotiated with the armed captors. ^{1, 2}

After serving as the Foreign Ministry’s first permanent secretary and as executive chairman of the Straits Times Press, Nathan became high commissioner to Malaysia and then ambassador in Washington from 1990 to 1996. On returning home, he helped establish the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies and served as its first director. ¹

Nathan became Singapore’s sixth president in September 1999 and served two terms through 2011. He launched the President’s Challenge in 2000 to raise support for social causes. He died on 22 August 2016. ^{1, 2}