Born: 7 July 1898, China
Died: 7 December 2011
Country most active: Singapore
Also known as: Chinese: 许哲; pinyin: Xǔ Zhe
Teresa Hsu Chih was a Singaporean charity worker, nicknamed “Singapore’s Mother Teresa” for her lifelong dedication to helping the elderly sick and impoverished. A retired nurse, she founded non-profit charities Heart to Heart Service and the Home for the Aged Sick, one of the first of its kind in Singapore.
Hsu had decided to become a nurse after helping the injured during the Sino-Japanese War. She spent years as a social worker in China and Paraguay and a nurse in England, before returning to Penang in her mid-50s to be with her mother. In Malaysia, she helped her brother start the Assunta Foundation for the Poor in Ipoh, and played a key role in opening three homes for the elderly and two homes for young girls and neglected children in Ipoh. She came to Singapore in 1961 to start similar non-profit charities.
Despite being more than 100 years old, Hsu was still involved in charity work and was one of very few supercentenarians who have been recognised for reasons other than their longevity. She had spent almost all of her savings feeding and housing the poor and the elderly, all of whom were younger than she was. In 2005, the Singapore government gave her the Special Recognition Award in acknowledgement of her contribution to the country.