Nippon Paint Patriarch Goh Cheng Liang Dies at 98

Goh Cheng Liang, the self-made billionaire who built Wuthelam Group into the controlling shareholder of Nippon Paint Holdings, died on Tuesday in Singapore at the age of 98, according to a statement from his family. Born into poverty in 1927, Goh began selling fishnets and surplus British Army paint after World War II before founding his own Pigeon paint brand and striking a distribution deal with Japan’s Nippon Paint in 1962. Over six decades he expanded the partnership across Asia and, in a 2021 stock-and-cash transaction valued at about $12 billion, raised Wuthelam’s stake in the Tokyo-listed company to nearly 60%. Forbes estimated his real-time fortune at roughly $13 billion, making him Singapore’s richest person at the time of his death. Beyond business, Goh channelled wealth into real estate, healthcare and philanthropy. The Goh Foundation, set up in 1995, funded the National Cancer Center Singapore, which later added the Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre. He is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.