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Lee Kun Hee - here surrounded by journalists after a trial in 2008 - has been convicted of bribery several times
Photo: imago stock & people / imago / ZUMA Press
The company praised him as a "true visionary" whose legacy will "last forever": The board of directors of Samsung Electronics, Lee Kun Hee, is dead. He died on Sunday in a hospital in Seoul, as the South Korean company announced.
Samsung did not provide any information on the exact cause of death.
In his last moments, the family was by his side.
Lee was 78 years old.
Lee Kun Hee is the son of Samsung founder Lee Byung Chull.
He took over the company's executive board in 1987 and made Samsung the world's leading smartphone company and the largest South Korean conglomerate.
His vision: Samsung as a technology group should stand up to large Japanese companies like Sony.
Lee then radically turned Samsung upside down: "We need a second start to catapult us into the top ten top technology companies in the world," he said at the time.
In 1988 Samsung launched its first cell phone.
Under the leadership of Lee, the group's flagship Samsung Electronics also developed into the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips.
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Lee was considered the richest South Korean.
However, his public appearances were rare, and he was rarely interviewed.
His reluctance was in stark contrast to the importance of Samsung as the largest conglomerate in the country.
Lee had been hospitalized for a heart attack in May 2014 and has had health problems ever since.
His son Lee Jae Yong therefore took over the management of the business in practice and became de facto CEO.
In recent years, the South Korean media had repeatedly speculated about Lee's death.
Sports sponsors and tax evaders
Since the 1990s, Lee Kun Hee has repeatedly come into conflict with the law.
His reputation was damaged when he was first sentenced to probation in 1996 for bribing former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo.
A year later he was pardoned by then head of state Kim Young Sam.
After another bribery investigation against Samsung, Lee was forced to step down as CEO in 2008.
The company patriarch thus left a leadership vacuum at Samsung.
His retreat was seen as the end of an era in South Korea.
But despite his resignation, as a puller behind the scenes, he continued to control the fate of the group, which also includes a shipbuilder, construction company, insurance company and the operator of an amusement park.
Two years later, in March 2010, he made his official comeback when he regained a leadership position as CEO of Samsung Electronics.
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The year before he was sentenced to a suspended sentence of three years by a court in Seoul for tax evasion and breach of trust.
But at the end of 2009 he was pardoned because of the South Korean application for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
South Korea's then-President Lee Myung Bak said he could not ignore requests from the sport and business community that Lee Kun Hee was vital to Pyeongchang's bid as a venue.
At that time, the entrepreneur was still a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the former amateur wrestler was enthusiastic about sports throughout his life.
As Samsung boss, he also emerged as a promoter of sport.
Lee was sentenced to five years in prison following a 2017 bribery and embezzlement scandal.
However, after an appeal, he was released the following year.
The Supreme Court of South Korea later ordered a new trial against the Samsung heir over this scandal, which has not yet been concluded.
The case is related to a widespread South Korean corruption scandal that led to the overthrow of former President Park Geun Hye in 2017.
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jus / dpa / AFP
