Aw Cheng Chye was born in Rangoon, British Burma of Hakka Chinese descent.
[7] At young age, Aw Cheng Chye inherited part of the wealth of his father, who died in 1944.
[19] He also privatized Sin Poh (Star News) Amalgamated, a subsidiary of Haw Par Brothers International in June 1971.
[22] The president of the bank Lee Chee Shan, sister-in-law of Aw Cheng Chye, retired in July 1971.
[23] Shortly after the takeover of Haw Par Brothers International, Cheng Chye was found dead during a vacation trip in Santiago de Chile on 22 August 1971.
[24] Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore also wrote a public pleading to Aw family.
[24] Upon his death, he chaired Haw Par Brothers International[25] and as a director of Chung Khiaw Bank.
[30] Under the chairmanship of Aw Cheng Chye, Rothmans donated S$100,000 to the Singapore Sports Council (Chinese: 新加坡全國體育協會).
[29][31] Aw Cheng Chye served in Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association (Chinese: 新加坡防癆協會), the predecessor of SATA CommHealth in 1967[32] as well as the vice-president of the Singapore Red Cross Society, only deputy to the wife of the prime minister, Kwa Geok Choo.
[54] He donated S$1,500 to the chamber for a project to dig the remains of the citizens who was killed during Japanese occupation of Singapore in 1966.
[75] To sum up, he followed the footstep of his uncle Aw Boon Haw as a philanthropist, but also involved in the day-to-day operation of the organizations.
Aw Cheng Chye was the president of the Singapore Chinese Football Club[nb 5] from 1954 to 1955.
[88] Upon his death, Aw Cheng Chye was an honorary chairman of Malaysian Chinese Football Association.
[104] A football tournament that was named after "Tiger Balm", was also sponsored by Aw Cheng Chye in 1958.
[2]: 18 Lee Chee Shan (Chinese: 李志成) was the president of Chung Khiaw Bank,[7] but retired in July 1971.
After the brother-in-law and sister of Aw Cheng Chye resigned as the directors of Thai subsidiary of Haw Par Brothers International, the Thai subsidiary, which was responsible to make "Tiger Balm" liniment in Thailand, was sold in 1972.
At that time due to the ability of director from the related parties being able to vote in such deal, a minority shareholder made a public statement on the newspaper, requesting the government to investigate.
[7][131] After Sin Poh (Star News) Amalgamated selling the publishing rights of Sin Chew Jit Poh (Singapore) in 1975 to the company of the same name, Tay Chwee Sian and Aw Toke Soon retained management shares of the company until 1978.