Leslie Koo or Koo Cheng-yun (; 28 November 1954 – 23 January 2017) was a Taiwanese business executive and billionaire who served as Chairman of

Taiwan Cement Corporation The Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC; ) is a cement company headquartered in Taiwan. Their main business includes the production and trading of cement, paper bags, and other paper products, under the "品牌水泥" namebrand. They are the centra ...

. He was the second son of the prominent businessman and diplomat

Koo Chen-fu Koo Chen-fu (, 6 January 1917 – 3 January 2005), also known as C.F. Koo, was a Taiwanese businessman and diplomat. He led the Koos Group of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Koo arrange ...

, and a member of the

Lukang Lukang, formerly romanized as Lugang and also known by other names, is an urban township in northwestern Changhua County, Taiwan. The township is on the west coast of Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait. Lukang was an important sea port in the 18t ...

Koo clan, one of the five wealthiest families of Taiwan.

Life and career

Born in Taiwan on 28 November 1954, Leslie Koo attended the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

in the United States, graduating with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

in 1981. After the death of his elder brother Chester in late 2001, Leslie took over the management of Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) in 2003. The company was at the time mired in 25 billion of debt because several risky investments made by Chester in the previous ten years had gone bad. Over the objection of some board members, Koo decided to invest in mainland Chinese cement businesses, which helped the company to turn around and double its revenue in thirteen years, making Taiwan Cement the world's twelfth largest cement company and the sixth biggest in China. He was credited with saving the business. Koo's net worth was estimated at US$1.2 billion. Despite his wealth, he reportedly flew economy class and ate at night markets. Koo refused to retain bodyguards, believing their presence to be a snobbish, insulting admission that the wealthy could not be seen alongside others of lower socioeconomic status. After Li Chia-wei met Koo to discuss ideas for a plant shelter in 2006, Koo agreed to fund the project, operated by the Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center (KBCC), on land in Gaoshu, Pingtung provided by Leslie Koo.

Bribery scandal

In June 2003, Dayu Development Corporation, the Koo family's property subsidiary, was on the verge of insolvency and threatening the survival of the family business. To raise emergency funds, Leslie Koo needed to sell a parcel of land in Longtan District, Taoyuan owned by Dayu. He paid what he called a "commission" to an associate of the then first lady

Wu Shu-chen Wu Shu-chen (; born 11 July 1953 in Tainan County, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese politician. She served one term in the Legislative Yuan from 1987 to 1990. As the wife of President Chen Shui-bian, Wu was the First Lady of the Republic of China from 200 ...

, and in exchange President

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

arranged for the

Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park The Hsinchu Science Park (HSP; ) is an industrial park established by the government of Taiwan on 15 December 1980. It straddles Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County in Taiwan. History The idea of the establishment of the Hsinchu Science Park was ...

to rent and then buy the parcel, which was incorporated into the Longtan Science Park. In 2008, Koo met with prosecutors investigating corruption charges against Chen Shui-bian. Chen was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, including 11 years for taking a NT$400 million bribe from Koo in the Longtan land transaction. In a subsequent interview with the media, Koo said that "I don't have any special feelings about the case."

Death

On 21 January 2017, Koo fell down a flight of stairs while attending a wedding banquet at the Regent Taipei Hotel. He was sent to

Mackay Memorial Hospital Mackay Memorial Hospital (), established on 26 December 1912, is one of the largest medical centers in Taiwan. It is a private Christian hospital in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan, mostly associated with George Leslie Mackay, the first mode ...

and then transferred to Cheng Hsin General Hospital, where he died from cerebral haemorrhage on 23 January 2017. Taiwan Cement appointed Koo's brother-in-law Nelson Chang An-ping (張安平) as his successor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koo, Leslie 1954 births 2017 deaths Hokkien businesspeople Taiwanese chief executives Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Taiwanese billionaires Businesspeople from Taipei Koo family of Lukang Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Taiwan