Iconic Samsung boss, who once burned 150,000 cell phones, died
LEE KUN-HEE | South Korea's richest and most powerful industrialist, Lee Kun-hee, 78, passed away on Sunday. The man who turned Samsung Electronics into a giant global telecommunications company died in a hospital in Seoul.
When Lee inherited the chairmanship of the Samsung group, founded by his father, in 1987, the company was the largest conglomerate in the country. The son turned it into an international success story. "Chairman Lee was a true visionary, transforming Samsung from a local company to a leading innovator and industrial powerhouse. His legacy is immortal, "the company said in a statement. His ideas have turned Samsung into one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of semiconductors, cell phones and LCD screens, South Korean media said.
Hermit
The South Korean counterpart of the Dutch entrepreneur Frits Philips was a mystery to many compatriots. Lee rarely ventured outside his private estate in downtown Seoul in recent years to get to the company's headquarters. This earned him the nickname "King Hermit". When he had a heart attack in 2014, Samsung was the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones and memory chips.
At the beginning of Lee’s leadership, Samsung was recognized as a maker of low-cost, low-quality products. "Let's change everything, except our wives and our children," he said in 1993 and changed course radically. To show that it was serious, the company burned the 150,000 cheap cell phones it still had in stock.
In 2008, Lee had to step down from his board of directors after a tax evasion conviction. Two years later, however, he returned as chairman. After his heart attack, his son Jay Y. Lee fulfilled his duties as vice president. Lee, who studied in Tokyo and Washington, loved dogs, horses, and large foreign cars. He was married to Hong Ra-hee, who was the daughter of a Justice Minister. They had four children. The youngest daughter committed suicide in 2006 while studying in New York.
LEE KUN-HEE | South Korea's richest and most powerful industrialist, Lee Kun-hee, 78, passed away on Sunday. The man who turned Samsung Electronics into a giant global telecommunications company died in a hospital in Seoul.
When Lee inherited the chairmanship of the Samsung group, founded by his father, in 1987, the company was the largest conglomerate in the country. The son turned it into an international success story. "Chairman Lee was a true visionary, transforming Samsung from a local company to a leading innovator and industrial powerhouse. His legacy is immortal, "the company said in a statement. His ideas have turned Samsung into one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of semiconductors, cell phones and LCD screens, South Korean media said.
Hermit
The South Korean counterpart of the Dutch entrepreneur Frits Philips was a mystery to many compatriots. Lee rarely ventured outside his private estate in downtown Seoul in recent years to get to the company's headquarters. This earned him the nickname "King Hermit". When he had a heart attack in 2014, Samsung was the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones and memory chips.
At the beginning of Lee’s leadership, Samsung was recognized as a maker of low-cost, low-quality products. "Let's change everything, except our wives and our children," he said in 1993 and changed course radically. To show that it was serious, the company burned the 150,000 cheap cell phones it still had in stock.
In 2008, Lee had to step down from his board of directors after a tax evasion conviction. Two years later, however, he returned as chairman. After his heart attack, his son Jay Y. Lee fulfilled his duties as vice president. Lee, who studied in Tokyo and Washington, loved dogs, horses, and large foreign cars. He was married to Hong Ra-hee, who was the daughter of a Justice Minister. They had four children. The youngest daughter committed suicide in 2006 while studying in New York.