Generous couple posthumously gifts $6 million to 3 animal and health charities in Singapore

Photo: NKF Singapore/Facebook
Photo: NKF Singapore/Facebook

Here’s a heart-warming tale of generosity: A couple who died of old age left behind a massive $6 million fortune to be equally divided among three charities in Singapore — Assisi Hospice, National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Jo and Gerry Essery, who spent their lives moving from country to country, eventually decided to make the Little Red Dot their home and became Singaporeans in the 1970s. Gerry, who was born in Britain and came to Singapore in 1931, was 92 when he passed away in 2015. His wife Jo was born in Singapore but left for South Africa when World War II began, and was 89 when she died in 2013.

The charities expressed their gratitude for the posthumous gift in a joint press release. Assisi Hospice has named a hall used for staff clinical training and seminars after the couple in a show of appreciation, while NKF said that the $2 million will be used for the construction of a dialysis centre in Marsiling, which will offer 22 dialysis stations to help 132 kidney patients who live in the north-west.

As for the SPCA, it has already allocated $300,000 towards its new building fund and the sponsorship of the open-air Essery Education Pavilion for activities like dog training sessions. The rest of the money will help with the upgrading and maintenance of the SPCA Animal Welfare Centre in Sungei Tengah.

The SPCA held a special place in Jo’s heart, as she served on the management committee for over four years in the ’70s, helping to nurse sick animals and foster numerous kittens and puppies.

In the words of Dr Tan Hwa Luck, the couple’s decades-old friend and the executor of their estate: “They earned their fortune from the society, so they believed that they should give back to the society, especially to those who are in need, to make the future of the world a better one.”



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