(CNN)—Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, died early Monday morning, according to a statement released by the office of Singapore’s current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He was 91.
Lee passed away peacefully at Singapore General Hospital at 3:18 a.m., the statement said.
He had been in the hospital with pneumonia since February 5.
Born in 1923, Lee co-founded the city state in 1965 when it declared its independence from Malaysia and was its prime minister for more than three decades.