Lee Kun hee was a South Korean businessman who served as chairman of the Samsung Group from 1987 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2020. He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, has died.
Age
He was born on 9 January 1942. Lee died on 25 October 2020 at the age of 78.
Parents
Lee Kun-hee was born on 9 January 1942 in Daegu, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. He was the third son of Lee Byung-Chul, the founder of the Samsung group, which was set up as an exporter of fruit and dried fish.
Career
Lee joined the Samsung Group in 1968 and took over the chairmanship on 24 December 1987, two weeks after the death of his father, Lee Byung-Chul, who founded the company.
In 1993, believing that Samsung Group overly focused on producing large quantities of low-quality goods and not prepared to compete in quality, Lee famously said, “Change everything except your wife and kids.
Mr. Lee helped to grow his father’s small trading business into an economic powerhouse, diversifying into areas like insurance and shipping.
During his lifetime, Samsung Electronics also became one of the world’s biggest tech firms.
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He was the richest person in South Korea, according to Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $21bn (£16bn).
On 24 March 2010, Lee announced his return to Samsung Electronics as its chairman. As of 2012, Samsung’s revenues were 39 times what they were in 1987, accounting for around 20 percent of South Korea’s GDP, and Lee was the country’s richest man.
After Lee suffered an incapacitating heart attack in 2014, his son, Lee Jae-Yong, became the Samsung group’s de facto leader
Wife And Children
Lee’s wife, Hong Ra-hee, is the daughter of Hong Jin-ki, the former chairman of the JoongAng Ilbo and Tongyang Broadcasting Company, and Kim Yoon-Nam (1924–2012). Kim Yoon-nam died of natural causes at Samsung Medical Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul in 2012 when she was 88 years old.
He had 4 children: the eldest child and the only son Lee Jae-Yong (born 1968) and three daughters Lee Boo-jin (born 1970), Lee Seo-hyun (born 1973), and Lee Yoon-Hyung (born 1979, died 2005).
Lee Kun hee Died
Lee treated for lung cancer in the late 1990s and tested again for cancer in 2005, at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas, with no subsequent concerns being announced. He hospitalized in May 2014, after suffering a heart attack.
He died on 25 October 2020 in Seoul, at the age of 78. The reason for his death was not provided.
Lee Kun hee Net Worth
With a net worth of $9.3 billion, Lee Kun-Hee tops our list of South Korea’s 40 Richest.
