"He always had a simple message for us committe members: to run this club well, and to make the best of what we can do. It was a simple but powerful message." - Mr Edwin Khoo, committe member of Tanah Merah Country Club.

"He said you can make mistakes so long as you don't repeat them. He was also very task-oriented and a stickler for work." - Mr Chandra Das, who worked closely with Mr Sim when he was in the EDB and Intraco.

Former top civil service head Sim Kee Boon dies

Former top civil service head Sim Kee Boon, who had been battling stomach cancer for 15 years, died on Friday morning. He was 78.

Mr Sim, who headed the civil service from 1979 to 1984, and had held numerous top positions in the public and private sectors, is survived by his wife Jeanette, 76, five sons and five grandchildren.

Mr Arthur Sim, 41, his second youngest son, told The Straits Times that his father died at the Singapore General Hospital between 9.30 am and 10 am on Friday. He was hospitalised there four weeks ago for complications arising from his stomach cancer.

Mr Sim, a journalist with The Business Times, said several family members were at his father's bedside when he passed away.

The elder Mr Sim had been battling stomach cancer for 15 years. In October 1992, he underwent his second abdominal operation. The first surgery was in November 1990 and the then chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and executive chairman of Keppel corporation recovered soon after and returned to the busy corporate world.

A humble man, good teacher, passionate golfer

Those who have worked with Mr Sim as a humble, sharp and intuitive man, and a good teacher and mento.

Mr Edwin Khoo, events director and committee member of Tanah Merah Country Club, of which Mr Sim was the founding chairman, said he was saddened and shocked by news of his death as Mr Sim had sounded "very alert and happy" when he spoke to him last week.

Speaking from Shanghai where he is on a business trip, Mr Khoo told The Straits Times: "I was in Chile when he was admitted to hospital. When I got back, I call him. He sounded very alert and happy, and he even told me he was going home. So, I thought that was good news.

Mr Khoo, who is due to return to Singapore next Tuesday, is cutting short his trip and flying back on Sunday to attend Mr Sim's funeral.

Paying tribute to Mr Sim, he said: "He was a very humble leader, a close friend and a mentor."

Of his contributions to the club, Mr Khoo said Mr Sim, a passionate golfer, single-handedly turned the barren land into the "best-run club in Singapore", and was very proud of it.

"He always had a simple message for us committee members: to run this club well, and to make the best of what we can do. It was a simple but powerful message," he said.

He added that Mr Sim went to the club's golf course every weekend for about two hours even when he could not play golf because of his failing health.

He recalled seeing him on the course three months ago: "He could not swing, but he would talk to his golf buddies, and put around. After that, he would join us for drinks at the club and what with the club members.

"This was despite the fact that he had chemotherapy and was walking around with a tube that was tucked under his shirt."

Businessman and Singapore's Ambassador to Turkey, Mr Chandra Das, 68, who worked directly for Mr Sim when he was in the Economic Development Board in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, said his former boss had taught him two things.

"First, there is no such thing as black or white. There are no fixed answers and there isn't just one way of doing things. You must be flexible. There is a lot of grey. He was a specialist in the grey," Mr Das told The Straits Times.

"The second thing he told me when I left EDB to join Intraco: He said in EDB there are two people playing chess and you are giving advice. In Intraco, you are a chess player."

He described Mr Sim as "a very sharp and intuitive man, and a good teacher."

"He said you can make mistakes so long as you don't repeat them. He was also very task-oriented and a stickler for work,' added Mr Khoo.

"I remember I took a day off to go to the Registrar of Marriages to get married. After the ceremony, he called the ROM and said: Is Chandra Das there? Tell him to come back to work."

Mr Sim, who was recently appointed chairman of a new advisory group to help in the global expansion of Changi Airport International, joined the civil service after graduating from the University of Malaya in 1953.

He quickly rose to become acting Permanent Secretary of the National Development Ministry in 1962, and the Finance Ministry in 1963.

He was Permanent Secretary of the Finance Ministry, and chairman and managing director of Intraco from 1968 to 1974, before moving to the Ministry of Communications as Perm Sec from 1975 to 1984.

He was appointed Head of the Civil Service in 1979, a post he held till 1984, when he became chairman of Keppel Corporation and the CAAS.

In 1966, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and the Malaysia Medal, and in 1991, he received the Distinguished Service Order.

Mr Sim also served on various associations, clubs and societies.

An avid golfer, he was the founder chairman chairman of Tanah Merah Country Club, and advisor to the Spring City Gold and Lake Resort.

He was also chairman of the Singapore-Suzhou Township Development, a member and later chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisor, director of DBS and Temasek Holdings.