Lee Kun-hee, president of Samsung and one of the richest people in the world, died in Seoul (South Korea) on Saturday 24 October: he was 78 years old. Lee transformed his father's small company into a giant multinational, active in the fields of insurance, shipping and later in consumer technology: from household appliances to computers via smartphones. According to Forbes, with assets of around € 17.7 billion, Lee was the richest person in South Korea and among the 40 richest in the world.
The family did not provide many details about the circumstances of the death, but Lee had been ill for some time and had a heart attack and subsequent serious health problems in 2014. In 2008 he resigned from Samsung Group following a scandal over the alleged illicit management of some funds, and then returned to the leadership of the group a couple of years later. For some time the management of the company has been the responsibility of his son Lee Jae-yong, who in recent years has however had several problems with justice for corruption.
