Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu was born in George Town, Penang, on 28 May 1919 and died there on 24 November 2010. Of his ninety-one and a half years, Chong Eu1 spent a formative decade abroad: he was a university student in Britain (1938–1944) and a medical doctor in China (1944–1947). Barring later overseas trips mostly taken for official work, occasionally for vacation, and three times for medical convalescence or treatment, he resided in Penang. His family homes were in Macalister Road and Burmah Road, his father had his clinic in Magazine Road, and Chong Eu himself had a house each in Tanjung Bungah and Penang Hill. He attended Shih Chung School, Hutchings Primary School and Penang Free School. For a few years, Chong Eu joined his father's practice but also served as a medical officer with the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force (1951–1954).

During Malaya's last years of colonial rule, he embarked on a career in politics, the field in which he would rise to national prominence. His earliest but indirect electoral venture came in the 1951 George Town Municipal Council elections, the first elections to be held in colonial Malaya. Chong Eu did not stand in the elections, but the Radical Party, which he founded with other aspiring politicians in Penang, won six of the nine seats contested by a total of 24 candidates. In 1954, he was appointed a ‘Nominal Unofficial Member of the Settlement Council of the Settlement of Penang’, and a year later, a Penang “Settlement Member of the Legislative Council in and for the Federation of Malaya’. After independence, he went on to be a three-term Member of Parliament for Tanjung constituency (1964–1978) and a six-term State Legislative Assembly representative (for Kota, 1964–1974 and Padang Kota, 1974–1990). From his base of Penang he led the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA, or Malaysian Chinese Association after 1963) as its President (1958–1959), the United Democratic Party (UDP) in different positions (1962–1968) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan, or Malaysian People's Movement Party) in various capacities (1968–1990). Of course, Chong Eu became best known, most widely respected and most appreciatively remembered as the Chief Minister of the State of Penang between May 1969 and October 1990.