Tan Jiak Kim

Tan was born on 29 April 1859 as the eldest son of merchant and philanthropist Tan Beng Swee and his wife Seet Kenh Neo, a sibling of Tan Jiak Chuan, and the grandson of businessman and philanthropist Tan Kim Seng. Besides Chinese, he could also speak Malay and English. Tan was introduced to the family business, Kim Seng & Co., in 1877, and became a partner with his uncle Tan Beng Gum after his father's death in 1888.

Tan lived along River Valley Road in the Panglima Prang bungalow. In 1878, Tan married Ang Geok Hoe. Both of them had 2 children, a son, Tan Soo Bin, and a daughter, Tan Suat Neo. Ang died during childbirth in 1898. Tan's daughter died on 7 April 1909 from malaria, four years after her marriage.

Tan later remarried to Ang's sister, Ang Geok Hean. In 1911, Ang began suffering from uremia and pneumonia. Despite this, she decided to accompany Tan to London to represent the colony, staying at the Hilton London Metropole. However, she died on 4 August due to a heart failure and was buried in London. Her death was announced on 11 August.

Following this, Tan remarried to the youngest daughter of the Ang family, Ang Geok Lan. Geok Lan died on 1 October 1925.

In 1896, Tan introduced the "Tan Jiak Kim Scholarship" in Raffles Institution, which any male student could compete for. This occurred while he was a trustee of the institution's board. In 1895, following the collapse of a building, Tan donated money to victims of the collapse. On 14 October 1904, Tan began a fundraiser with a goal of $71,000 to fund the construction of a new school, the King Edward VII College of Medicine. By November 1904, he had managed to raise $37,000 for the college. By 1905, $87,000 had been raised, $12,000 which had been donated by Tan. Another $15,000 of the raised funds came from rubber tycoon Tan Chay Yan. Tan and Seah managed to raise a further $120,000 to expand the school, and provided it with a $1,500 scholarship. Tan donated $37,000 to the Prince of Wales Relief Fund during World War I to aid the British in buying battle planes.