Lee Byung-chul ( Korean: 이병철 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean businessman. He was the founder of the

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

Group, which is South Korea's largest

chaebol A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...

, and he is considered one of South Korea's most successful businessmen. He was a pioneer of modern entrepreneurship and was a beacon of national economic development for South Korea.

Personal life

Early life

Byung-chul was the youngest son of four siblings to father Lee Chan-woo and mother Kwon Jae-lim. Byung-chul was the son of a wealthy land-owning yangban family (a branch of the Gyeongju Lee clan). He attended highschool at

Joongdong High School Joongdong High School (Hangul: 중동고등학교, Hanja: 中東高等學校) is a private school founded in 1906, located in Irwon-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea. The school and its foundation were undertaken in 1994 by Samsung Grou ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, and then college at Waseda University in Tokyo but did not complete his degree.

Korean art collection

After his death, Byung-chul's estate (Ho-Am) was opened to the public for tours. His collection of

Korean art Korean arts include traditions in calligraphy, music, painting and pottery, often marked by the use of natural forms, surface decoration and bold colors or sounds. The earliest examples of Korean art consist of Stone Age works dating from 3000 ...

is considered one of the largest private collections in the country, featuring a number of art objects that have been designated "National Treasures" by the Korean government.Ho Am Art Museum, "Official Web Site"
Ho-Am is located a short distance from the

Everland Everland () is South Korea's largest theme park. Located at the Everland Resort in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi-do, it receives 5.85 million visitors annually and was ranked nineteenth in the world for amusement park attendance in 2018. As of 2 ...

park, one of South Korea's popular amusement parks (Everland is also owned by the Samsung Group).

Family

The family of Lee Byung-chul * Lee Byung Chul (12 February 1910 ~ 19 November 1987) – 1st chairman of Samsung. ** 1st wife: Park Du-eul (8 November 1907 ~ 3 January 2000) *** 1st daughter: Lee In-hee (30 January 1929 ~ 30 January 2019) – The founder of Hansol and spouse of its former chairman, Dr. Cho Wan-hae, M.D. (5 August 1925 ~ 1 March 2019). *** 1st son: Lee Maeng-hee (20 June 1931 ~ 14 August 2015) – Founder of

CJ Group CJ Group () is a South Korean conglomerate holding company and one of the largest Chaebol headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous businesses in various industries of food and food service, pharmaceutics and biotechnology, enter ...

(in which he lost the lawsuitalongside with Lee Kun-hee), father of current CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun. *** 2nd son: Lee Chang-hee (24 May 1933 ~ 19 July 1991) – Founder of Saehan. *** 2nd daughter: Lee Suk-hee (1935 ~ ), spouse of LG board director Koo Cha-hak (1930 ~), younger brother of the emeritus chairman, Koo Cha-kyung (1925 ~ 2019) and paternal uncle of the former deceased chairman,

Koo Bon-moo Koo Bon-moo ( ko, 구본무; 10 February 1945 – 20 May 2018) was a South Korean business executive, who gained worldwide fame as the renamer and business executive of the LG Group. Early life Born on 10 February 1945 in Jinju, South Gyeongsa ...

(1945 ~ 2018). *** 3rd daughter: Lee Soon-hee (1939 ~ ) *** 4th daughter: Lee Deok-hee (1940 ~ ), widow of Lee Jeong-gi (1936 ~ 2006). *** 3rd son: Lee Kun-hee (9 January 1942 ~ 25 October 2020) – 2nd chairman of Samsung, father of 3rd and present Samsung chairman

Lee Jae-yong Lee Jae-yong (; born 23 June 1968), known professionally in the West as Jay Y. Lee, is a South Korean business magnate and the chairman of Samsung Electronics. He is the only son of Hong Ra-hee and Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung until his d ...

and Hotel Shilla president

Lee Boo-jin Lee Boo-jin (born 1970) is a South Korean billionaire businesswoman who has been serving as the president and chief executive of Hotel Shilla, one of Seoul's leading hotels and conference centers. Lee has been dubbed by the media as "Little Lee K ...

. *** 5th daughter: Lee Myung-hee (1943 ~ ), spouse of Chung Jae-eun (1937 ~), chairwoman of Shinsegae group and mother of Chung Yong-jin. ** 2nd wife: Kuroda (1922 ~ 2007) *** 4th son: Lee Tae-whi (1947 ~ ) *** 6th daughter: Lee Hye-ja (1952 ~ )

Career

Beginning

Byung-chul established a trucking business in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

on 1 March 1938, which he named Samsung Trading Co, the forerunner to Samsung. Samsung means "Three Stars" which explains the initial corporate logos. By 1945 Samsung was transporting goods throughout Korea and to other countries. The company was based in Seoul by 1947. It was one of the ten largest "trading companies" when the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

started in 1950.Watkins, Thaer, "The Chaebol of South Korea", Website, downloaded 22 July 2011

With the conquest of Seoul by the North Korean army, Lee was forced to relocate his business to

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

. The massive influx of U.S. troops and equipment into Busan over the next year and a half of the war proved to be highly beneficial to Lee's trading company. In 1961, when

Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...

seized power in the

May 16 coup The May 16 military coup d'état () was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung-hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do- ...

, Lee was in Japan and for some time he did not return to South Korea. Eventually, a deal was struck and Lee returned but Samsung had to give up control over the banks it acquired and follow economic directives from Park's government.

Federation of Korean Industries

The first step of the Federation of Korean Industries was established in August 1961. The association was founded by Samsung Group chairman Lee Byung-chul. Later in life, Byung-chul served as chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries and was known as the richest man in Korea."Samsung's development in chronological order"

Other ventures

In 1965, he established the Samsung Culture Foundation to promote a broad range of programs to enrich Korean cultural life. In 1969, Samsung Electronics Manufacturing (renamed Samsung Electronics) and later merged with Samsung-Sanyo Electric. Samsung Electronics Manufacturing had 45 employees and about $250,000 sales in 1970 and it made household electronics exclusively. In 1982, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Boston College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Byung-chul 1910 births 1987 deaths 20th-century South Korean businesspeople Samsung people South Korean art collectors South Korean Buddhists South Korean company founders Waseda University alumni Lee family (South Korea)