Seoul: Chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. Lee Kun-hee passed away at the age of 78, the company announced in a statement.
“Chairman Lee passed away on October 25 with his family, including Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee by his side. Chairman Lee was a true visionary who transformed Samsung into the world-leading innovator and industrial powerhouse from a local business,” Samsung said in a statement.
The Samsung Chairman died at a hospital in Seoul on Sunday after being hospitalised for years following a heart attack in 2014.
Under Lee’s leadership, Samsung rose to become the world’s largest producer of smartphones and memory chips, and the firm’s overall turnover today is equivalent to a fifth of South Korea’s GDP.
Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate business in South Korea.
