Deaths on February 8

Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (b. 1936)

Ong Teng Cheong (Chinese: 王鼎昌; pinyin: Wáng Dǐngchāng; 22 January 1936 – 8 February 2002) was a Singaporean politician and architect who served as the fifth President of Singapore between 1993 and 1999. Prior to his presidency, he was the country's deputy prime minister.

Ong was formerly a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and was the Chairman of the People's Action Party from 5 January 1981 to 1 September 1993, after Toh Chin Chye stepped down from the position. He was the member of parliament for Kim Keat Single Member Constituency (SMC) from 1972 to 1991, Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) from 1991 to 1993. He was also the Minister for the Ministry of Manpower from 1981 to 1983 and the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts from 1978 to 1981. He became the 4th Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 2 January 1985 till 1 September 1993 when former deputy prime minister S. Rajaratnam stepped down from position serving under the then prime minister Goh Chok Tong.

Ong resigned from PAP and his political positions to participate in the 1993 Singaporean presidential election where he was the winning candidate and became the fifth president of Singapore. Ong has decided not to run for a second term as president in 1999 partially due to the death of his wife.On 8 February 2002, at the age of 66, Ong died in his sleep from lymphoma at the Singapore General Hospital.