Lorrain Esme Osman

Son of a government pathologist, Lorrain Esme Osman was born on December 18, 1931 in Penang. His early education was in the local Alor Star school system and the Sultan Abdul Hamid College. After a short period of formal education at St. Andrew's School in Singapore, he attended Cambridge University where he obtained his degree in law.

He was called to the Bar in 1956 at Lincoln’s Inn and returned to practise in Malaysia.

He chambered with Presgrave & Matthews in Penang and decided to move to Kuala Lumpur where he joined Shook Lin & Bok. He was admitted to the Singapore Bar in December 1960. In 1968 he gave up practice as a lawyer and went into business on a full-time basis.

From the time he left private practice he had rendered public service for the government of Malaysia in a number of appointments.

He was chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA); member of the National Consultative Council; member of the Council of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur; member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Body; member of the Executive Council of the Tourist Development Council; and a director of Food Industries of Malaysia (‘FIMA’), a government-owned agricultural promotions corporation and also chairman of several of its subsidiaries.

In 1968, he help set up Bank Bumiputera. He was one of the original subscribers to the memorandum and articles, and one of the original directors of the bank.

Lorrain Esme Osman died on August 8, 2011 while receiving treatment for cancer at a London hospital.