A trained lawyer, this visionary leader was Singapore's chief architect in harnessing social cohesion despite ethnic and religious diversity; and in engineering an economic miracle.
His defining economic policy is arguably uncompromising standards for a universally accessible, top-flight public education system - astutely identifying human capital as Singapore's key competitive advantage - supplemented with rigorous application of meritocracy.
This understated principle accelerated economic ascendancy by unleashing the forces of upward social mobility for all, with little tolerance for complacency or corruption. Complemented by a fair and transparent judiciary, businesses thrived.
But above all, Mr Lee's principled approach to nation building forged his legacy as a luminary.