She died less than a month after her 95th birthday and a week before what would have been her husband’s 100th birthday, Star Online reported.

Tan was Malaysia’s second finance minister and first minister of commerce and industry.

In her eulogy, daughter Tan Siok Choo recounted her mother’s love for baking cakes and incredible luck in playing mahjong. She also remembers her mother as the caring and generous counterpart to Tan’s strict frugality.

MCA president Liow Tiong Lai paid his last respects at the Xiao En Centre in Cheras late on Wednesday, as did Rahah Mohammad Noah, widow of the late former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein.

“Even younger people will remember Tan’s contributions to the nation, and the demise of Catherine Lim brings us a lot of sadness,” Star Online quoted Liow as saying.

Lim had previously agreed to attend the centenary birthday celebration of Tan to be held by MCA later this month. Liow said the party would instead be paying their respects in remembrance of her on the day of the event.

Former Malaysian Senate president Michael Chen Wing Sum, among the first to pay his last respects, has fond memories of Lim from the time Tan served as MCA president.

“We, the central committee members often went to their house for meetings, and being the president’s wife, she always looked after us like family,” Chen was quoted as saying.

Lim will be taken to Malacca to be laid to rest with her late husband today.