Somdej Kiew dies at 85
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Somdej Phra Buddhacharn, the abbot of Wat Saket Ratcha Wora Maha Wihan who has been commonly known as Somdet Kiew, passed away today morning due to blood stream infection.
A report from Samitivej Hospital went that the monk, one of the country's most revered, passed away at 8.41am. The preparation is underway to move his body to Wat Saket for the funeral rite.
Since 2005, he has been the chairperson of the Supreme of Patriarch's Representative Committee, being the Acting Supreme Patriarch since then due to the failing health of the incumbent Supreme Patriarch Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana.
He was born on March 3, 1928 in Koh Samui, Surat Thani, as Kiew Chokchai, the fifth of seven children of a Chinese family which earned a living through coconut plantation.
According to wikipedia, he was ordained as a novice monk in his hometown in 1941, after recovering from serious illness.
With determination to leave the world, he was ordained as a monk at Wat Saket in 1949, when he was 21.
Leading the monastic region 9, he was appointed the secretary of the Supreme Patriarch in 1965. "Somdej" is the highest title in the Thai monastic circle.
