Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah KBE AO, who is also the founder and trustee of Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, has been named Forbes Asia Heroes of Philanthropy list for the fifth time, becoming the first individual in Asia to achieve the distinction on five separate occasions.
The inclusion by the U.S.-based business publication is in recognition of Cheah’s lifelong commitment to nation‑building through quality education and philanthropy.
Cheah was previously honoured as a Hero of Philanthropy in 2021, 2019, 2015 and 2009.
Cheah said: “I have always believed that each and every one of us must have a higher purpose in life. For me, this higher calling is a commitment to giving back to society in a meaningful and impactful manner for the benefit and well-being of our future generations.”
“I strongly believe that it is the obligation of those who have done well financially to promote educational excellence in the country, because Quality education lays the groundwork for a nation to shape the destiny of its people and society,” Cheah added.
To date, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation has awarded more than RM967 million in scholarships and grants to tens of thousands of students, many from underprivileged households, and is on track to surpass RM1 billion by 2026.
In November 2025, Cheah pledged RM500 million over five years to establish one of Malaysia’s largest education endowments to drive academic excellence, world-class research and innovation at Sunway University in perpetuity.
This mission-driven and structured approach to philanthropy is modelled after some of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world, such as Harvard University and the University of Cambridge.
It is an approach that has also been adopted in Cheah’s gifts to public schools nationwide, including more than RM57 million to support the construction, development and expansion of 10 public schools across Malaysia.
In addition, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation endowed RM5 million to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) to establish the Tan Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Chair at the Faculty of Medicine.
The endowed professorship will appoint a pre-eminent scholar to advance research in medicine and public health at UKM, which is also partnering the Jeffrey Cheah Sunway Medical School at Sunway University to train future-ready doctors and specialists.
Adopting a social enterprise model, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation is the largest-of-its-kind in advancing education in Malaysia. The foundation owns and governs, in a not-for-profit structure, all entities under Sunway Education Group, including Sunway University, Sunway Colleges and Sunway International Schools.
In line with the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation’s full embrace of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), the foundation is pledging a further US$5 million, on top of the US$ 20 million contributed previously, to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN-SDSN), to advance the sustainability agenda around the world.
Headed by renowned economist Professor Jeffrey Sachs, UN-SDSN has established its Asia headquarters at Sunway University.
UN-SDSN Asia is one of only three such global centres in the world working on continent-wide sustainability solutions. The office in New York oversees the Americas, while the office in Paris oversees Europe and Africa.
The Asia headquarters of UN-SDSN works closely with the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development and the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, which are both housed at Sunway University.
Sunway University’s rapid rise in major global rankings reflects this commitment to the sustainability agenda. In 2025, the institution climbed to 81st in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, up from the 201–300 band, with sustainability at the core of its agenda.
The Forbes Asia’s 2025 Heroes Of Philanthropy appeared in the December 2025 issue of Forbes Asia.
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