No Signboard Seafood founder dies at age of 74

The one-time hawker is said to have died of natural causes and had been in and out of hospital for the past three months with complications from a stroke she suffered nearly a decade ago. It had left her bedridden.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Madam Ong Kim Hoi died last Thursday at age 74, leaving behind her husband Choo Ah Kow, three sons and two daughters behind.

She is reported to have died of natural causes. She had also made frequent trips to the hospital in recent months due to complications from a stroke she suffered about a decade ago which left her bedridden.

Her age in an obituary published in The Straits Times on Sunday was printed as 79. Her grandson and chairman of the restaurant chain Sam Lin told the English daily that it was part of a Chinese funeral custom to add five years to the ages of deceased elderly female family members.

No Signboard is famed for its white pepper crab dish that was created by Madam Ong at the Mattar Road hawker centre in Aljunied in the 1970s.

The eatery's name came about as the family could not afford to pay for a sign and painted the plank above their stall orange instead. It became known as "No Signboard".

The wake is held at 12 Teow Hock Ave near Kovan. The cortege will leave for Choa Chu Kang Cemetery at 1pm on Feb 5, Wednesday.

Three of the chain's outlets in Geylang, East Coast and Clarke Quay will close tomorrow and Wednesday, reported The Straits Times.