SINGAPORE — The mourners who filed past the gates of the government building where the body of Lee Kuan Yew, who died on Monday, was being kept spoke about him with a zeal and adoration usually reserved for candidates for sainthood.

“We are deeply in debt to him,” said Irene Yeo, a saleswoman who brought a bouquet of flowers, listing the reasons for her gratitude to the man who founded modern Singapore: “My life, my housing, my family, the good environment, the good transportation and medical care.”

Vasuki Thirupathi, an engineer from India who worked in Singapore two decades ago and was back on a visit, said he sobbed uncontrollably for two minutes when he heard the news.

“He is my idol, and not a day passes without my saying it,” Mr. Thirupathi said. “Security, law and order, truth, honesty — all of this requires vision and boils down to leadership.”