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SINGAPORE \u2013 Mrs Sarvambikai Shanmugaratnam, the mother of President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, died late in the afternoon of April 19. She was 99. <\/p>\n
In response to queries, the President\u2019s Office confirmed her death on April 20, stating that she was \u201ccremated soon after in a private observance\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask that the family\u2019s privacy be respected during this time,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
According to an obituary published on the Obits.sg website, Mrs Shanmugaratnam was born in Kuala Lumpur on July 5, 1926. She was the fourth of 11 children born to Dr A. Viswalingam and Ms Rathnammal Ayathurai, both natives of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
\u201cA quiet iconoclast, she always kept her own counsel in holding to a different path, and stood on the side of adventure and independence in life,\u201d according to the obituary.<\/p>\n
She was married to the late Emeritus Professor Kanagaratnam Shanmugaratnam, also known as Singapore\u2019s \u201cfather of pathology\u201d. He died in 2018, aged 97<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n She is survived by their three children and four grandchildren, and two sisters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n