Lee Kun-hee, longtime president of the Samsung Group that transformed the conglomerate into one of the largest economic empires in the world, died today at the age of 78, South Korea's leading news agency Yonhap reported.
Samsung's history is deeply intertwined with the history of its home country, which is sometimes dubbed "The Republic of Samsung". Lee, the son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, came to power in the late 1980s just as South Korea went from dictatorship to democracy with the political shift from military strongman Chun Doo-hwan to Roh Tae- woo. Under his management, Samsung has spearheaded initiatives in a number of areas of electronics, including semiconductors, memory chips, displays and other components that are the backbone of today's digital devices.
Lee addressed the difficult economic problems of the 1990s, including the 1998 Asian financial crisis, which saw a near collapse of the economies of South Korea and many other so-called Asian tigers, as well as the Dot-Com bubble, which seen the collapse of Internet stocks globally.
Coming out of those tough years, Lee invested and is arguably most famous today for building the conglomerate's Galaxy line of consumer smartphones, which evolved Samsung from an industrial powerhouse to a global consumer brand. Samsung Electronics, which is just one of the cobwebs of Samsung companies, today it is worth around 350 billion dollars, making it among the most valuable companies in the world.
While his business acumen and strategic insights into running Samsung have been praised, he has faced problems in recent years. He was convicted of tax evasion in the late 2000s, but was eventually pardoned by then country president Lee Myung-bak (no relative).
Samsung has also been targeted by groups including Elliott Management about President Lee's attempts to secure Samsung's financial future for his son, Lee Jae-yong, who took over the actual leadership of the conglomerate after the heart attack. Lee elder in 2014. Lee Jae-yong suffered his own clashes with the law, having been found guilty of bribery and sentenced to five years in prison, which was eventually suspended by a judge.
After his heart attack, Lee Kun-hee remained hospitalized in stable condition according to Yonhap. Rumors about his condition spread over the next six years.
According to Bloomberg, Lee leaves about $ 20 billion in wealth and is the richest South Korean citizen. He leaves him his wife and four children.