Samsung Group’s chairman Lee Kun-hee dies at age 78

Global conglomerate Samsung lost its chairman Lee Kun-hee on October 24. The company announced the death but failed to mention the exact cause, but it is known that Mr. Lee had been incapacitated since a heart attack he had in 2014.

The former Samsung chairman died on his way to Seoul, the capital of South Korea at the age of 78.

“All of us at Samsung will cherish his memory and are grateful for the journey we shared with him,” the conglomerate said in a statement.

During his time alive, Kun-lee built Samsung into the global giant it has become today but had some issues with the law over white-collar crimes. In 1987, Kun-hee took over the conglomerate after the death of his father and founder of Samsung Electronics. Before Lee Kun-hee’s death on Sunday, he served as the chairman of the conglomerate from 1987 to 1998, chairman and chief executive from 1998 to 2008, and chairman of the group from 2010 until his death—he was also the richest man in South Korea.

Kun-hee put in much efforts to push Samsung up the industry ladder, so much that by the early 1990s, the company surpasses its American and Japanese rivals in memory chips. It revolutionized box television sets and popularized flat panel displays. In the 2000s, Samsung went as far as dominating the mobile market as cellphones became more popular.

Samsung Electronics has made a name for itself both in South Korea in the rest of the world. It has become the cornerstone of South Korea’s economy. Before Samsung grew to where it is today, it was formerly known as a maker of cheap television sets and microwaves sold in discount stores. Today, Samsung products have become one of the leading global electronics and smartphone brands.

Kun-hee was known for radically transforming the Samsung Group and he would often tell employees, “change everything, except your wife and children.” He was committed to improving Samsung product quality rather than increasing market share. The company also focused on bringing in foreign talents to improve products. It also opened up the senior executives to quickly understand how foreign markets operate and how to compete in them.

A professor at the National University of Singapore, Chang Sea-jin said the move was similar to that of “Mao Sedong trying to change the mindset of the Chinese people.”

In his quest to build Samsung into the empire it has become, Kun-hee was involved in white-collar crimes including bribing the South Korean president in 1996 but was pardoned. In 2006, he was found guilty of tax evasion but was pardoned so he could continue to lobby for bringing the 2018 Olympics to Pyeongchang. After the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, the South Korean president who served from 2008 to 2013 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for pardoning Kun-hee and accepting a $5.4 million bribe from Samsung.

Early life and Career

Lee Kun-hee was born on Jan. 9 1942 to the family of Park Doo-eul and Lee Byung in Korea. Years later, his father Park Doo-eul founded Samsung as an exporter of dried fish and fruit. The company later expanding into selling commodities like sugar and textiles, and later expanded into insurance, construction, shipbuilding, and semiconductor businesses.

Kun-hee attended Waseda University where he graduated in 1965. He later enrolled at the George Washington University to obtain a master’s degree but didn’t graduate.

In 1966, his early career started in Tongyang Broadcasting Company, an affiliate to Samsung at the time. He later moved to work at Samsung C&T, the construction and trading firm of the conglomerate. He was later named vice chairman of the Samsung Group in 1979. Kun-hee became chairman of the conglomerate in 1987 after the death of his father.

“We are in a very important transition,” said Kun-hee shortly after he took charge of the Samsung Group, in an interview with Forbes. “If we don’t move into more capital-and technology-intensive industries, our very survival may be at stake.”