Henry Tan Chi Sieng Sy Sr. (; ; October 15, 1924 – January 19, 2019) was a Filipino businessman and investor. Born in Fujian, he moved with his family to the Philippines at age 12. When his family returned to China, he stayed behind and founded ShoeMart, a small Manila shoe store, in 1958. Over the decades he developed ShoeMart into SM Investments, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, including 49 SM malls in the Philippines and China, 62 department stores, 56 supermarkets and over 200 grocery stores. SM also owns Banco de Oro, the second-largest bank in the Philippines, as well as real estate holdings. For eleven straight years until his death, Sy was named by Forbes as the richest person in the Philippines. When he died, his net worth was estimated at US$19 billion. Early life and education Henry Sy, also known as Sy Chi Sieng in Philippine Hokkien (Shī Zhìchéng in Mandarin), was born in Jinjiang in Fujian, then still under the Republic of China (ROC), on October 15, 1924. At age 12, he and his family moved to the Philippines during the Commonwealth Era under American colonial period, where his father set up a shop that sold various household items. At his father's store, Sy helped his father sell rice, sardines and other items. Following World War II, the store was obliterated along with the rest of Manila. His family decided to return to China, but Sy stayed in the Philippines where he completed his secondary education at an institution now known as the Chiang Kai Shek College in Tondo, Manila and earned his Associate of Arts degree in commercial studies at Far Eastern University in 1950. At school, he learned English and Filipino (Tagalog). Career In his twenties, Sy became a store manager working for an American business involved in the local shoe industry in the Philippines; he opened his first sole-proprietorship store in Quiapo, Manila in 1948. He opened at least three shoe stores in the Carriedo area which was then known for its heavy pedestrian traffic. His decision to sell shoes was due to the losses his family experienced in World War II thinking that everyone would need shoes following the aftermath of the war. He sold surplus G.I. boots and saved finances before he established ShoeMart in 1958, his own small shoe store in Quiapo, that marked the beginning of