Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, died late Sunday, but early Monday morning Singapore's time.

According to a statement released by the office of Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, published by CNN, Yew was 91.

He passed away peacefully at Singapore General Hospital at 3:18 a.m., the statement said.

He had been in the hospital with pneumonia since February 5.

Born in 1923, Lee co-founded the city state in 1965 when it declared its independence from Malaysia and was its prime minister for more than three decades.