Admired and criticized, shy of the public and yet decried as an eccentric: Lee Kun Hee was one of the most enigmatic and at the same time most powerful business leaders in South Korea. The richest man in the country was rarely interviewed. His public appearances were just as rare. His reluctance was in stark contrast to the importance of Samsung as the largest conglomerate in the country, of which he was the undisputed chairman and leading visionary for a long time. Lee died in a Seoul hospital on Sunday, Samsung announced. He was 78 years old.

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1987: Building Samsung into a Sony competitor The ambitious Lee set himself the goal of Expand Samsung into a global corporation. Under his leadership, the group’s flagship Samsung Electronics developed into the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips. In addition, the technology giant is now the largest producer of smartphones and televisions.

Samsung’s rise to a high-tech company had its beginnings 1974 when it entered the semiconductor business under Lee’s father and company founder Lee Byung Chull with the takeover of Hankook Semiconductor. Lee Kun Hee took over the leadership of the chaebol – as South Korean family companies are called – after the death of his father 1987. His vision: Samsung as a technology group should stand up to large Japanese companies like Sony. The son radically turned Samsung upside down: “We need a second start to catapult us into the top ten technological top companies in the world,” he said at the time. 1988 Samsung launched its first mobile phone.

Non-contradicting subordinates Lee was still seen in the row of tough chaebol bosses, whose instructions are followed without contradiction by the subordinates. But at the same time he pushed for decentralization within the conglomerate and gave the managers greater decision-making powers. His infamous saying of 1988 in front of the assembled manager team, “Change everything except your wife and children”, was true as an unquestioned commandment. His son Lee Jae Yong, who was built up by his father as his successor and is now the unofficial CEO, has a reputation for pursuing a rather softer management style.

Lee Kun Hee’s reputation was damaged when he 1996 was sentenced to probation for the first time for bribery of former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo. A year later he was pardoned by the then head of state Kim Young Sam. After another bribery investigation against Samsung, Lee then 2008 was forced to resign as CEO.

Pulling the cord after the end of an era With this, the company patriarch left a leadership vacuum at Samsung. His withdrawal was seen as the end of an era in South Korea. But despite his resignation, he continued to control the fate of the group as a puller behind the scenes, which also includes a shipbuilder, construction companies, insurance company and the operator of an amusement park. Two years later, in March 2010, the official comeback took place when he regained a leadership position as CEO of Samsung Electronics.

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 already at the end 2009 it was due to the South Korean application for the Olympic Winter Games 2018 pardoned. 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), during his life the former amateur wrestler was sp