Benjamin Sheares

Common card · No. 241926

Benjamin Henry Sheares (12 August 1907 – 12 May 1981) was a Singaporean obstetrician, gynaecologist, and academic who served as the second president of Singapore between 1971 until his death in 1981. Born in Singapore under British rule, Sheares graduated from the King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1929. He specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology and worked at the Singapore General Hospital and Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH), eventually serving as the acting professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Malaya in Singapore. He later became the professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in 1950, becoming the first local to rise to such a position as high-ranking colonial officers were usually appointed instead. Sheares retired in 1961 due to health complications and went into private practice before being elected as the president of Singapore by parliament following the death of incumbent president Yusof Ishak. Sheares was sworn in on 2 January 1971 following a unanimous...

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