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Peng Tsu Ying, a 92-year-old pioneer teacher who has worked for the deaf community in Singapore for decades, died on Wednesday.
The cause of death was heart failure due to old age, said Dennis Tan, a 52-year-old teacher, who considered Mr. Peng a mentor.
Born in Shanghai, Mr. Peng lost his hearing at the age of five as a result of a childhood illness.
He came to Singapore with his wife, who was also deaf, and in 1954 founded the Singapore School of Signs for the Deaf, where she taught shanghain sign language to deaf children. In 1963, the school merged with the Oral School for the Deaf and became the Singapore School for the Deaf (SSD). Mr. Peng was one of his directors.
The school, which was run by the Singapore Deaf Association (SADeaf), closed last year, while enrollment has declined in recent years.
Hanisnah Kasmuri, former director of the 50-year-old SSD, remembers Mr. Peng as a firm but kind mentor. She started as a teacher at school around 1985, thinking it would be a temporary job, but Mr Peng's love for sign language and people hurt her, did she? said.
"He was a father figure and never stinged with praise and encouragement."
In an article posted on the SADeaf Facebook page, its president, Martin Marini, said Peng had spent 35 years teaching and mentoring generations of deaf students. "Mr. Peng's extraordinary leadership and immense contributions (…) are widely recognized as we deplore the loss of our pioneering founder and educator," he wrote.
Mr. Peng did not let his disability prevent him from taking part in the Grand Prix races in the 1950s and was often seen running around the racetracks in open-top sports cars. like his Lotus Super Seven. In a 1975 interview, he stated that he participated in a motor sport to prove that "deafness does not interfere with being able to do anything".
It inspired members of the deaf community to be confident, said Tan, SSD student and Lighthouse School teacher. "He encouraged me to play sports against my hearing comrades … (He taught me that) deaf people can do anything but hear."
According to his obituary in The Straits Times, three children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren are left to mourn Mr. Peng. A wake is organized at 33A Swiss Club Road until tomorrow.
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