Lim Goh Tong dies at 90
– Malaysian casino king –
Lim Goh Tong, Malaysia’s third-richest man who turned a forested hilltop into a thriving casino resort, died Tuesday, leaving behind a diverse business empire worth US$22 billion. He was 90.
Lim Goh Tong a migrant from China, battled against the odds to build Genting Highlands, a casino hotel resort that opened in 1971 and flourished into a Las Vegas-style resort. It is the country’s only casino and includes five hotels and a theme park. (Forbes magazine listed Lim among the world’s top 250 billionaires in 2006 and the third richest person in Malaysia with a personal net worth of US$4.3 billion).
Born in Anxi in Fujian province, Lim was the fifth child among seven siblings who migrated to Malaya — as Malaysia was then known — in 1937 at the age of 19 with only a suitcase and US$175 in his pocket. He made his first fortune by trading in second-hand heavy machinery in the 1940s after the end of Japanese occupation, and later ventured into mining. While working on a hydroelectric power project in 1964 in Cameron Highlands, a popular hill resort patronized mostly by British colonials at the time, Lim dreamt of building a similar hill resort nearer to the country’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, as a getaway for local residents.