Kolon Honorary Chairman Lee Dong-chan died of natural causes on Nov. 8. He was 92.
Over the years, Lee has been praised for making contributions to pioneering the Korean textile industry. He has been credited with evolving the Kolon Business Group into the nation’s largest textile conglomerate. He has also been praised for bringing great changes to the way people wear clothes, in accordance with his management commitment to make people’s lives richer.
Hailing from a village in Shingwang-myeon, Yeongil-gun, Gyenongssangbuk-do, the late honorary chairman went to Japan to study at the age of 15.
Completing his second year at the Politics and Economics College of Yaseda University, Lee began his business career to give a helping hand to his father and founder of the Kolon Group. Lee -- who once said turning around the destitute national economy and make people wear warm clothes were patriotic acts -- set up a textile factory.
Lee, along with his father, established Korea Nylon Co., the predecessor of Kolon Business Group, on April 2, 1957. After taking office as the chairman of Kolon Group in 1977, he devoted himself into promoting research and development. Lee expanded his business portfolios into film and industrial materials in the 1980s, and the ultrafine textile sector in the 1990s.
He handed over the group’s management to his eldest son, Woong-yeul, in 1995.
Lee was lauded for his active role as one of the elder businessmen. He once said, “Companies are not mine, but they are a foundation for their living and a kind of social public entities.”
He served as the chairman of Korea Employers Federation for the 14-year period starting in 1982. He inaugurated the National Economic and Social Consultation Committee, comprising land and management representatives, in 1990 at the height of severe labor strife. Lee was praised for his role in leading a declaration for industrial peace in 1994.
He received the coveted Order of Service Merit, Mugumghjwa, the highest order to any civilian, in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of the national economy.
The late Kolon honorary chairman was also praised for his contribution to the development of the nation’s sports. He served as chairman of the Korea Basketball Association, chairman of the Korea Golf Association, and was the first chairman of the 2002 FIFA Korea-Japan World Cup Organizing Committee.
He was lauded for running his group the way a marathoner runs at a constant pace. In particular, the late Lee demonstrated affection for marathon. He established the Kolon marathon team to promote the sport by raising the reward for a marathoner setting new records to 150 million won, and he received kudos for his leading role in Korean marathoner Hwang Youyng-jo’s winning the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games.
A stream of celebrities from government, political, sports and other walks of life formed a long queue to pay tributes to the late Lee at Yonsei University Hospital in Shinchon, downtown Seoul.
Kolon’s Management Transfer to Eldest Son, Woong-yeul
The late Lee transferred management rights of Kolon Business Group to his eldest son, Woong-yeul, in the 1990s. Kolon Group Chairman Lee Woong-yeul now takes a 44 percent share in Kolon against the late Lee’s 7.71 percent interest. The late Lee has also a 0.21 percent stake in Kolon Industries, and a 0.51 percent interest in Kolon Global, but Kolon Chairman Lee still has a firm grip on the management of the group.
_49 Company.jpg)
