Henry Sy

Henry Tan Sy Sr. (; Chinese: 施至成; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Si Chì-sêng; pinyin: Shī Zhìchéng; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄕ ㄓˋ ㄔㄥˊ; October 15, 1924 – January 19, 2019) was a Filipino businessman. Born in Fujian, he moved with his family to the Philippines at age 12. His family would later return to China, with Henry staying behind to establish 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 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.