Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. Prior to entering politics, Tan was a general manager at OCBC Bank. He made his political debut in the 1979 by-elections as a PAP candidate contesting in Sembawang SMC and won. He went on to served as Minister for Education between 1980 and 1991, Minister for Finance between 1983 and 1985, and Minister for Defence between 1985 and 1991, Deputy Prime Minister between 1995 and 2005, and Coordinating Minister for National Security between 2003 and 2005. Tan resigned from the Cabinet in 2005 and was appointed Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of GIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, Chairman of the National Research Foundation and Chairman of SPH. He resigned from all of his positions in 2010 before contesting in the 2011 presidential election as an independent candidate. Tan won the 2011 presidential election in a four-cornered fight and served as the president of Singapore until 2017. He did not seek for a second term in the 2017 presidential election, which was reserved for Malay candidates after a constitutional amendment. He is the only living former president. Education Tan was educated at St Patrick's School and St Joseph's Institution before topping his class and graduating from the University of Singapore (now the National University of Singapore) with a Bachelor of Science with first class honours degree in physics, under a scholarship conferred by the Singapore Government. He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Science degree in operations research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the Asia Foundation Scholarship. He also completed a Doctor of Philosophy in applied mathematics at the University of Adelaide, and went on to teach mathematics at the University of Singapore. Career In 1969, Tan left the University of Singapore and joined OCBC Bank, where he became the general manager, before leaving the bank in 1979 to enter politics. In December 1991, Tan stepped down from the Cabinet to return to the private sector, where he rejoined OCBC Bank as the chairman and chief executive officer from 1992 to 1995, while retaining his seat in the Parliament as the Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC. Tan was appointed as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of GIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, following his second retirement from Cabinet in