Samsung Electronics announced Tuesday that Han Jong-Hee, one of the company’s co-CEOs, has died of a heart attack at the age of 63.
His death comes four years after former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee passed away. Lee passed away at the age of 78.
“Today is a terrible day for Samsung. Samsung Electronics vice-president Jonghee (JH) Han passed away early today. Han suffered a massive heart attack a few days ago and died while undergoing treatment at the hospital. He was 63 years old.”
Han leads the Digital Appliances Division and Device Experience Unit, covering Samsung’s mobile phone and home appliance business.
He joined Samsung in 1988 and rose steadily over the decades. In 2011, he took over as head of product R&D for Visual Display Division. He became CEO in 2022.
Samsung praised Han for playing an important role in moving the company forward during tough market conditions, particularly in the television business. “Our deepest pathetic dol means ours as well as his family and loved ones during this difficult time,” the company said in a statement.
Just a week before his death, Han held Samsung’s annual shareholders meeting in Suwon, South Korea, where he addressed concerns about the company’s delayed stock performance. He was also one of the four executive directors on the board.
With Han’s passing, co-CEO Jun Young Hyun will take over as the sole CEO. Jun led Samsung’s Memory Chip Business, held last November, during a shakeup aimed at meeting the growth of the competition in the semiconductor space.
Samsung began as a trading company founded in 1938 by Lee Byungchul. Over the next 30 years, we have expanded to a wide range of industries, from food processing and textiles to insurance, securities and retail. By the late 1960s, Samsung had stepped into electronics, with construction and shipbuilding continuing in the mid-1970s.
At that peak, Samsung’s revenues accounted for around 17% of South Korea’s $1.08 trillion GDP. In 2019 alone, Samsung Electronics won around 230.4 trillion Korean languages and about 26 billion US$.
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