Deaths on March 10

Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (b. 1929)

Tan Boon Teik ( tahn-buun-TAYK; 17 January 1929 – 10 March 2012) was a Singaporean judicial officer who served as Attorney-General on an acting basis from 1967 to 1968, and the full position from 1969 through to 1992. Appointed when he was 39 years old, he remains the youngest person to have held this post and remains the longest serving Attorney-General of post-independence Singapore, having held office for just over 25 years.

Educated at University College London, Tan was called to the Bar in 1952 as a barrister-at-law of England and Wales by Middle Temple, and became an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Malaya in 1954. He joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1955 as a police court magistrate, subsequently serving as Deputy Registrar and Sheriff of the High Court (appointed 1956), the Director of the Legal Aid Bureau (1959), and Senior Crown Counsel (1963). He also taught part-time at the Faculty of Law of the University of Singapore when it was started in 1956. He became the Solicitor-General in 1963, Acting Attorney-General in 1967, and Attorney-General in 1969. During his tenure, he prepared many legal opinions on important constitutional and administrative law issues, and was also the Government's lead counsel in a number of notable cases. The Attorney-General's Chambers published the first reprint of the Constitution in 1980, and revised editions of Singapore statutes in 1970 and 1985. In 1990, it launched LawNet, a computer database then containing the full text of Singapore legislation. Tan was involved in the establishment of the Singapore Academy of Law, and was the first Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (1991–1999).

In addition, Tan was the Chairman of the Singapore Petroleum Company (1971–1999); Vice-President (from 1972) and President (from 1992) of the Singapore Musical Society; Chairman and Honorary Chairman of the Singapore Symphonia Company Ltd., the corporation managing the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (1979–1999); a director and deputy chairman (from 1985) and later chairman (1990–1994) of the Insurance Corporation of Singapore; a director of United Industrial Corporation Ltd. (UIC) and Singapore Land Ltd. (from 1992); and Chairman of Morgan Grenfell Asia Ltd. (from 1993), and Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings. Tan suffered from Parkinson's disease towards the end of his life. Following internal bleeding, he died on 10 March 2012.

Tan was conferred the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Distinguished Service Order) in 1978. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 1989, and made an Officer of the French Legion of Honour in 1998.