Widow became one of world's richest women

NINA WANG

1937-2007

HONG KONG -- Nina Wang, a pigtailed Hong Kong businesswoman whoturned her slain husband's fortune into a real-estate empire thatmade her one of the world's richest women, has died. She was 69.

Ms. Wang's spokesman Ringo Wong said Ms. Wang died Tuesday. Hedid not describe the cause of death, but Hong Kong media reportedthat Ms. Wang had ovarian cancer that spread to her liver and otherorgans.

Ms. Wang's rise to become Asia's richest woman, according toForbes Asia, had the plot elements of a Hollywood movie -- sex,romance, crime and courtroom drama.

Born Kung Yu-sam in Shanghai, Ms. Wang moved to Hong Kong in the1950s with Teddy Wang, who founded the Chinachem Grouppharmaceutical company.

Teddy Wang was abducted in 1990 as he left Hong Kong's exclusiveJockey Club. The family paid a $33 million ransom but he was neverreturned.

Several of the kidnappers were caught and said that the 56-year-old Wang had been thrown into the sea from the sampan -- a smallChinese boat -- where he was held.

His body was never found and he was declared dead in 1999.

Nina Wang insisted that she believed Teddy Wang was alive andwould someday return. He had been kidnapped seven years earlier andreleased for $11 million ransom.

In her husband's absence, Nina Wang built Chinachem into amassive private property developer, with office towers and apartmentcomplexes throughout Hong Kong.

Forbes magazine ranked her this year as the world's No. 204richest person, with a fortune of $4.2 billion.

Won battle over will

Ms. Wang captivated the public with her pigtails and garish,girlish outfits. She was nicknamed "Little Sweetie," the Chinesename of a princess-like character from a Japanese fairy-talecartoon.

But Ms. Wang's standing came under threat when her father-in-law, Wang Din- shin, challenged her claim to his late son's fortune.

Wang Din-shin, who is in his 90s, said he was the solebeneficiary of Teddy Wang's estate, based on a 1968 will.

He questioned a will dated a month before his son disappeared,which left everything to Nina Wang. All four documents in the willcontained the handwritten message, "one life, one love," in Englishon papers that were otherwise in Chinese.

After a 171-day trial during which Wang Din-shin showed picturesof Nina Wang with an alleged lover, a Hong Kong judge ruled inNovember 2002 that Nina Wang's will was fake and she "probably"forged part of it.

The love messages seemed suspiciously out of place, the judgesaid.

Prosecutors charged her with forgery in January 2005 in aseparate criminal case. She was released on $7 million bail, arecord for Hong Kong at the time.

Nina Wang, however, staged a legal comeback.

Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal reversed the ruling giving theestate to her father-in-law, saying the signatures on the willappeared authentic.

"Such naturalness and style of writing is inconsistent with thatof a person trying to commit a forgery," Judge Patrick Chan said.

Ms. Wang was also cleared of forgery charges in December 2005.

Martin Lee, a prominent lawyer and lawmaker, recalled Nina Wangas a careful spender and described Nina and Teddy Wang as agenuinely loving couple.

"They didn't just go on vacation together, work together. Ibelieve they spent every day together," Lee told reporters.