Couple plans to leave money to charity after their death in new campaign to promote legacy giving
SINGAPORE - It was their son's degenerative eye disease that set ophthalmologist Dr Audrey Looi and her neurosurgeon husband Dr Ang Beng Ti on the path of philanthropy. The couple was devastated around a decade ago to find out that James, now 19, suffers from Stargardt's disease, which causes progressive vision loss, when he was in primary school. To make matters worse, there was a serious lack of programmes then to support children with low vision in their educational and other needs, Dr Ang, 51, said. In 2011, the couple set up the charity iC2 PrepHouse, which teaches children with low vision the skills to cope with daily life and supports them to remain in mainstream schools. They now plan to leave $200,000 or more in their will to set up an endowment fund to support the iC2 PrepHouse's work and to fund scholarships for needy undergraduates of the Singapore Management University (SMU). James is now a business undergraduate at the SMU. The Angs have two other children, aged 13 and 21. Dr Looi, 50, said: "So instead of giving it (our wealth) all to our children, we have started thinking about putting aside a part of it for charity. I think we have to be a little less self-focused ...
