Singapore's Founding Father And First Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, Dies at 91

Singapore's first prime minister and founding father Lee Kuan Yew died Monday. He was 91.

Lee is known to have overseen the tiny city-state's rapid rise from a British colonial backwater to a global trade and financial centre.

Lee was hospitalized last month for pneumonia and recently had been on life support. According to the prime minister's office, he "passed away peacefully'' early Monday.

Lee ruled Singapore for three decades, from 1959 to 1990, and remained a member of parliament after leaving the office of prime minister. His son, Lee Hsien Loong, is nation's third and current prime minister.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed Lee as "a true giant of history" whose advice on governance and economic development had been sought by other world leaders down the years.

"A visionary who led his country from Singapore's independence in 1965 to build one of the most prosperous countries in the world today, he was a devoted public servant and a remarkable leader,'' Obama said in a statement issued Sunday night by the White House.

The Singapore government has declared a period of national mourning until his funeral on Sunday, with flags at half-staff.

"We won't see another man like him,'' Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised address to the nation of 5.4 million million people. "To many Singaporeans, and indeed others too, Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore.''