AKIPRESS.COM - Sellapan Ramanathan, Singapore’s president from 1999 to 2011, died Monday at age 92, the government announced.
Widely known as S.R. Nathan, the country’s sixth and longest-serving president was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a stroke on July 31. It was his second stroke in less than two years.
“The late Mr. Nathan passed away peacefully at Singapore General Hospital on Monday,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Singapore’s president is head of state, but the office is largely ceremonial. Ramanathan served two terms before being succeeded by Tony Tan Keng Yam.
He held top positions in the civil service and was appointed high commissioner to Malaysia in 1988. From 1990 to 1996, Ramanathan served as Singapore’s ambassador to the United States.