Lee Maeng-hee, former Cheil Fertilizer chairman and the eldest son of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull, passed away at the age of 84 on August 14. The desceased is an elder brother of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and the father of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun.
“Lee Maeng-hee died from lung cancer at 9:39 a.m. (local time) at a hospital in Beijing, China,” CJ Group said.
Lee was diagnosed with stage II lung cancer in December, 2012 and had a third of his lung removed. The cancer, however, recurred the following year and spread to other parts (including suprarenal glands) of his body.
Lee studied in Japan and the United States. He had held various top positions until the mid 1970s, including vice president of Samsung C&T, vice president of JoongAng Ilbo and vice president of Samsung Electronics.
Lee took up the reins of Samsung in 1966 when the Samsung founder had to remove himself from the front lines of managing Samsung for the so-called 1966 saccharin smuggling incident.
But he had disagreements with his father. In 1976, his father named his third son, Kun-hee, as his successor, sidelining his first son. To make matters worse, an anonymous letter saying “Lee Byung-chull shouldn’t be allowed to return to management” was sent to the Blue House; Lee Byung-chull thought his first son was behind the letter. The two became irreversibly estranged from each other.
As Lee Maeng-hee’s fall from grace forced him into exile in the 1980s, he was called an ill-starred price of the Samsung owner family. He regained media attention in February 2012 by filing a lawsuit against his younger brother Lee Kun-hee, demanding a chunk of the inheritance he gained from his father. Both the first and second trial ended in favor with Lee Kun-hee; Lee Maeng-hee stopped short of appealing to the Supreme Court.
Suing his younger brother, Lee Maeng-hee said: “Kun-hee has inflamed discord among my siblings and has solely cared about satisfying his selfish desires. I’m suing him to make things right.”
Lee Kun-hee countered by saying: “It was presumptuous of Lee Maeng-hee to address me as “Kun-hee” in such a condescending tone.” He didn’t even dare to look me in the eye.”
Right after Lee Maeng-hee lost the second trial against his younger brother, he offered an olive branch to his younger brother. Lee handed in a letter saying, “What I have to do now is to make up with Kun-hee. We are brothers. I hope we can leave our differences behind and recover our brotherly relationships that used to be very intimate when my father was alive.” However, a meeting between the deceased and Lee Kun-hee has never materialized.
