Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Photo by Asia Economy DB
[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, has passed away at the age of 78.
According to the business community on the 25th, Chairman Lee died after a long battle with illness. Born in 1942, he was hospitalized on May 10, 2014, due to acute myocardial infarction and passed away after six years of fighting the illness.
On the night of May 10, 2014, he suffered an acute myocardial infarction at his home in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital near his residence, and was transferred to Samsung Medical Center. In the early morning of the next day, May 11, he underwent a heart stent procedure to widen the blocked coronary artery.
Afterwards, he was treated with therapeutic hypothermia in the intensive care unit to minimize brain and organ tissue damage and continued sedation therapy. As his cardiopulmonary function returned to normal, he was moved to a general ward and recovered from a coma about two weeks after admission.
His physical functions, including heart function, recovered to normal, and from about six months after admission, he remained stable, awake 15 to 19 hours a day, and received rehabilitation therapy including wheelchair exercises. It is known that he was breathing on his own until recently.
Surviving family members include his wife Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Samsung Museum of Art Leeum; son Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics; daughter Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla; daughter Lee Seo-hyun, Chairwoman of Samsung Welfare Foundation; and son-in-law Kim Jae-yeol, President of Samsung Economic Research Institute.
The funeral will be held simply as a family funeral according to the wishes of the deceased and the bereaved family.
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