Kwa Geok Choo

Who was Kwa Geok Choo?

Kwa Geok Choo was most widely known as the wife of Singapore's former Minister Mentor and former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and one of the partners in the law firm Lee & Lee.

Kwa was also the mother of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. She was a former pupil of Methodist Girls' School and read law at Girton College, Cambridge University, where she was a Queen's Scholar from Malaya.

In Lee Kuan Yew's biography, he stated that he first met Kwa in 1944 at a party, and courted her from 1946. Kwa married Lee Kuan Yew in secret in London in 1947 and then remarried in Singapore on September 30, 1950. They had two sons—Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Hsien Yang—and one daughter—Lee Wei Ling. Her brother, Dr. Kwa Soon Bee, served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health. She had two sisters, Mrs. Yong Nyuk Lin and the late Mrs. Earnest Lau.

During Lee's years as Prime Minister and Senior Minister, Kwa was frequently seen with her husband, especially on diplomatic trips and meetings with other foreign ministers. After suffering two strokes in May and June 2008, she was bedridden and unable to speak, but remained conscious and able to understand speech.