The New York Times - USA (2020-10-26)

THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIESMONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 N B7

Lee Kun-hee, who built Sam-
sung into a global giant of smart-
phones, televisions and computer
chips but was twice convicted —
and, in a pattern that has become
typical in South Korea, twice par-
doned — for white-collar crimes
committed along the way, died on
Sunday in Seoul, the South Korean
capital. He was 78.
Samsung announced the death
but did not specify the cause. Mr.
Lee had been incapacitated since
a heart attack in 2014.
When Mr. Lee took the helm at
Samsung Group in 1987, after the
death of his father and the con-
glomerate’s founder, Lee Byung-
chull, many in the West knew the
group’s electronics unit only as a
maker of cheap televisions and

unreliable microwaves sold in dis-
count stores.
Lee Kun-hee pushed the com-
pany relentlessly up the techno-
logical ladder. By the early 1990s,
Samsung had surpassed Japa-
nese and American rivals to be-
come a pacesetter in memory
chips. It came to dominate flat-
panel displays as screens lost
their bulk. And it conquered the
middle-to-high end of the mobile
market as cellphones became
powerhouse computing devices in
the 2000s.
Samsung Electronics today is a
cornerstone of South Korea’s
economy and one of the world’s
top corporate spenders on re-
search and development. Mr. Lee
— who was chairman of Samsung
Group from 1987 to 1998, chair-
man and chief executive of Sam-
sung Electronics from 1998 to
2008, then Samsung Electronics
chairman from 2010 until his
death — was South Korea’s richest
man.
He and his family members
used a web of ownership arrange-
ments to exert influence over the
other companies under the Sam-
sung umbrella. Over the course of
his tenure, even as professional
managers came to have more re-
sponsibility at the group, Mr. Lee
remained Samsung’s big thinker,
the provider of grand strategic di-
rection.
But his reign also showcased
the sometimes dubious ways in
which South Korea’s family busi-
ness empires, known as chaebol,
safeguard their influence. South
Korea’s corporate dynasties are
such a major source of economic
vitality that some South Koreans
wonder whether the chaebol are
holding their country hostage.
In 1996, Mr. Lee was convicted
of bribing the country’s president,
then pardoned. More than a dec-

ade later, he was found guilty of

tax evasion but given another re-

prieve, this time so he could re-

sume lobbying to bring the Winter

Olympics to the mountain town of

Pyeongchang in 2018.

Soon after the Pyeongchang

Games, Lee Myung-bak, South

Korea’s president from 2008 to

2013 and no relation, was sen-

tenced to 15 years in prison for ac-

cepting $5.4 million in bribes from

Samsung in exchange for pardon-

ing Mr. Lee.

Lee Kun-hee was born in

Daegu, in Japanese-occupied Ko-

rea, on Jan. 9, 1942, to Park Doo-

eul and Lee Byung-chull, who had

founded Samsung a few years ear-

lier as an exporter of fruit and

dried fish. The younger Lee was a

wrestler in high school.

Samsung first grew by domi-

nating the consumer staples, like

sugar and textiles, that war-torn

Korea needed. It later expanded

into insurance, shipbuilding, con-

struction, semiconductors and

more. Lee Kun-hee graduated

from Waseda University in Tokyo

in 1965. He then studied in a mas-

ter’s program at George Washing-

ton University but did not receive

a degree.

He started his career at

Tongyang Broadcasting Com-

pany, a Samsung affiliate at the

time, in 1966. He worked at Sam-

sung C&T, the conglomerate’s

construction and trading firm, be-

fore being named vice chairman

of Samsung Group in 1979.

When he became chairman in

1987, he took from his father a fixa-

tion on planning for the far future,

even when times seemed good.

But he added an overlay of exist-

ential fear and ever-present crisis

that persists among Samsung

brass to this day.

“We are in a very important

transition,” Mr. Lee said shortly

after taking charge, in an inter-

view with Forbes. “If we don’t

move into more capital- and tech-

nology-intensive industries, our

very survival may be at stake.”

The radicalness of the transi-

tion he had mind was made clear

when he summoned scores of

Samsung Electronics managers

to a luxury hotel in Frankfurt in

1993. For days, he lectured the ex-
      ecutives, urging them to bury old
      ways of working and thinking.
      “Change everything,” he said, “ex-

cept your wife and children.”

Samsung, he decreed, would fo-

cus on improving product quality

instead of increasing market

share. It would bring in talent

from overseas, and it would re-

quire that senior executives inti-

mately understand foreign mar-

kets and how to compete in them.

At the time, all of this was

anathema in corporate South Ko-

rea.

“It was very much like Mao Ze-

dong trying to change the mind-

set of the Chinese people,” said

Chang Sea-jin, a professor at the

National University of Singapore.

In 1995, as part of the emphasis

on quality, he visited a Samsung

plant in the town of Gumi after a

batch of cellphones was found to

be defective.

What happened next became

legend. According to “Samsung

Electronics and the Struggle for

Leadership of the Electronics In-

dustry,” a 2010 book on the com-

pany by Tony Michell, the Gumi

factory’s 2,000 workers gathered

in a courtyard and were made to

wear headbands labeled “Quality

First.” Mr. Lee and his board of di-

rectors sat under a banner that

read “Quality Is My Pride.”

Together they watched as $50

million worth of phones, fax ma-

chines and other inventory was

smashed to bits and set ablaze.

The employees wept.

Mr. Lee’s business record was

not unblemished. Believing that

electronics would become integral

to cars, he started an automobile

unit in the mid-1990s. Samsung

Motors was sold off in 2000.

A dalliance with Hollywood was

similarly short lived. In 1995,

Steven Spielberg sounded Mr. Lee

out over dinner about investing in

a movie studio. Despite being a

movie buff, the chairman and

other Samsung executives ended

up talking mostly about micro-

chips.

“I thought to myself, ‘How are

they going to know anything

about the film business when

they’re so obsessed with semicon-

ductors?’ ” Mr. Spielberg later re-

called. “It was another one of

those evenings that turned out to

be a complete waste of time.”

Samsung entered a phase of

global conquest in the 2000s, us-

ing flashy devices and sleek mar-

keting to implant its name firmly

into the minds of Western con-

sumers. Mr. Lee, however, was

rarely seen in public. He was a de-

voted collector of sports cars and

fine art.

By 2007, he had identified the

next looming crisis for Samsung.

China was ascendant in low-end

manufacturing, while Japan and

the West still led in advanced tech-

nologies. South Korean compa-

nies — Samsung included — were

sandwiched in between.

But as he got started on his next

overhaul of the Samsung way, ac-

cusations surfaced that he had

dodged taxes on billions of dollars

supposedly stashed in secret ac-

counts. Instead of fighting the

charges, he stunned South Korea

by announcing his resignation on

live television.

“I promised 20 years ago that

the day when Samsung was rec-

ognized as a first-class business,

the glory and fruition would all be

yours,” he said in 2008, addressing

employees, his voice a near whis-

per. “I truly apologize for not hav-

ing been able to keep that prom-

ise.”

He was pardoned the following

year, and was made Samsung’s

chairman again in 2010.

After Mr. Lee suffered a heart

attack in 2014, his son, Lee Jae-

yon, the vice chairman of Sam-

sung Electronics, became the

company’s public face.

In addition to his son, Lee Kun-

hee is survived by his wife, Hong

Ra-hee; his daughters Boo-jin and

Seo-hyun; his sisters Sook-hee,

Soon-hee, Deok-hee and Myung-

hee; and seven grandchildren.

Lee Kun-hee, 78, Who Transformed Samsung Into an Electronics Titan, Dies

By RAYMOND ZHONG

Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of Samsung, in 2008, top. He was convicted — and pardoned — twice for white-collar crimes, in a sign

of the ills in South Korea’s relationship with its business dynasties. Mr. Lee arriving for questioning by prosecutors on tax-evasion

charges in Seoul in 2008, above right. Samsung workers presenting Mr. Lee with an advanced memory chip in 2011, above left.

BAE JONG-HWA/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

Reprinted from Sunday’s late edi-
tions.

A leader who drilled

his ‘quality first’ ethos

into employees from

the bottom to the top.

SAMSUNG, VIA EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY AHN YOUNG-JOON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

during the mid 1950's, the in-

troduction of wall-to-wall car-

peting causedadramatic

drop in demand for tradition-

al carpets. With a keen appre-

ciation for the inherent beau-

ty of out of vogue Persian

carpets he began to frequent

auctions and, decades later,

could be seen regularly bid-

ding at rug auctions. As a life-

long sportsman he played ex-

cellent doublestennisfor

many years winning several

amateur championships. Phil

attended the Taft School and

graduated from Blair Acade-

my; received a BS from Bab-

son College; MBA from New

York University. He served in

the Navy as a seaman. He

served on the board of Man-

hattan School of Music, Inter-

national Center for the Dis-

abled, Gipsy Trail Club and

servedasadvisortothe

Board of the Girl Scout Coun-

cil of Greater New York. The

Jennison family will be forev-

er grateful to Phil's careta-

kers who attended him with

loving and tender devotion

during his illness.

Jennison, Philip

Josephy, Joanne

Lachs, Bernice

Rochlin, Mordecai

Struhl, Paul

Sumner, Elizabeth

JENNISON—Philip D.,

passed away peacefully in

San Francisco, California on

October 19, 2020 of Alzhei-

mer's Disease. He will be

missed greatly by Edina, his

wife and best friend; his sons

David, Peter and Matthew

from a previous marriage to

Elizabeth H. McLane; daugh-

ters-in-law Joelle, Alexandra

and Sara; grandchildren Ce-

line, Nicolas, Clark, Sydney,

Emma and Alexandre. He

was predeceased by his sister

Sally Riter and brother David

Jennison. Phil was born on

May 6, 1928 in Reading, PA to

Ralph and Lucile Jennison.

His father was President of

New York State Electric and

Gas. He began his career as

an investor of the employee

pension fund at El Paso Na-

tural Gas. He then moved to

the Surveyor Fund and sub-

sequently to Donner Adviso-

ry. His skills as an investment

analyst came to the attention

of Rod White, senior Partner

at Oppenheimer & Co., who in

1969 enticed him to join what

was considered the hottest

money management firm on

Wall Street as a General Part-

ner.NineyearslaterPhil

joined William D. Witter Inc.,

becoming President. In 1988,

Phil became a partner at Wil-

liam P. Stewart, where his

eye for growth stocks drove

returns, by for example in-

vesting in Home Depot when

it had less than a dozen out-

lets. The loyalty he engen-

dered in clients was evident

when he announced his re-

tirement from active money

management at age 65 and

almost two dozen persuaded

him to continue to manage

their funds which he did for

JOSEPHY—Joanne Gershel,

beloved mother of Jennifer

and Andrea (Leiman), grand-

mother of Lauren, David, and

Jonathan, and great-grand-

mother of Zev, Arthur, Cole,

and Boaz died at home on Oc-

tober 22 at the age of 99. Lov-

ing wife of Warren S. Josep-

hy, who predeceased her in

2006, she was a lifelong New

Yorker and was devoted to

the MetropolitanMuseum

and the Central Park Conser-

vancy. A graduate of Pratt In-

stitute in costume design, she

worked as the head buyer in

the gift shop at Bonwit Teller

during World War II, retiring

to raise a family after the

war. She and Warren built a

house in the Northeast King-

dom of Vermont and divided

their time between Manhat-

tan and rural Vermont, where

she developed a passion for

gardening. She employed the

skills she learned at Pratt as a

volunteer in the Costume In-

stitute at the Met and at the

Museum of the City of New

York for many years. A fix-

ture for decades in her Upper

East Side neighborhood, she

was known for her style, en-

ergy, and zest for life.

LACHS—Bernice Hochman,

born in the Bronx to Murray

and Florence Hochman Sep-

tember 1934. Survived by her

husband of 63› years Je-

rome Lachs. Beloved wife,

mother, grandmother, aunt,

grandaunt and devoted

friend. She will be missed by

all who knew her. Graveside

service 1:00pm Today Sharon

Gardens Cemetery, Valhalla,

NY.

ROCHIN—Mordecai.

age 107. The law firm of Paul,

Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &

GarrisonLLPmournsthe

passing of our longtime part-

ner,trustedcolleagueand

dear friend Mordecai “Mor-

die”Rochlin,whopassed

away on October 23.

Mordie,whowasjustsix

weeks shy of his 108th birth-

day, appears to have been

the oldest living attorney in

New York State. During his

83-year career at Paul, Weiss,

Mordie represented many of

the country's most prominent

familiesandbusinessand

philanthropic leaders for their

most important trusts and es-

tate matters.

Mordie was acherished

member of Paul, Weiss com-

munity, first as an associate

(1938-1950), then as a partner

(1951-1983), and finally, as a

retiredpartner(1983-2020).

Mordie was the embodiment

of the history of Paul, Weiss.

He was the last living lawyer

to have worked directly with

each of the firm's name part-

ners: Randolph Paul, Louis

Weiss, Simon Rifkind, John

Wharton and Lloyd Garrison.

Until his last days, Mordie

could recall with uncanny de-

tail his interactions with each

of the five. In an interview in

2019, Mordie said that he felt

like he had “won the lottery”

when his name was printed in

gold leaf in 1938 on the door

of the firm, then located at 61

Broadway.

“We were blessed to have

Mordie at our firm for nearly

85 years,” said Paul, Weiss

Chairman Brad S. Karp. “He

has been a treasure and dear

friend and he will be sorely

missed.”

Mordie's early years in pri-

vate practice were spent in li-

tigation, appeals and trials, as

an associate to Walter H. Pol-

lak, a civil rights lawyer who

wasofcounselatCohen,

Cole, Weiss & Wharton, which

later became Paul, Weiss. Be-

ginning in 1941, Mordie fo-

cused on trust and estate law.

He was a member of the

firm's first management

committeeformedinthe

1950s,workingwith then-

chairman Lloyd Garrison,

and,in1963,Mordiewas

elected to the firm's leader-

ship group, serving for eight

years in that position.

Until quite recently, Mordie

continued to work in his Paul,

Weiss office on the 32nd floor

a few days a week reading

email, working with his assis-

tant and attending partner

lunches.

Colleagues and staff recall

Mordie's deep generosity,

abidingkindness,scholarly

demeanor and unerring

professionalism, as well as

his sense of humor and in-

comparable memory for

names, dates and places of

events. He was a thoughtful

and diligent mentor to gener-

ations of younger lawyers, all

of whom are in his debt. Mor-

die was a proud graduate of

Columbia Law School, and at-

tended the school's annual

Winter Lunch until only a few

years ago, where he was the

most senior lawyer there ev-

ery year.

On the occasion of Mordie's

100th birthday, Paul, Weiss

established a Columbia Law

School Scholarship Fund in

Mordie's honor.

Colleagues also recalled Mor-

die's passion for doubles ten-

nis with his partners, which

he played until his early 80s,

and his enduring love of base-

ball. Even in his 90s, he kept a

box score of the game using

pencil and paper - a style that

goes back to the beginning of

the game.

In a speech that Mordie gave

at a partners' lunch a few

yearsago recountinghis

career and his memories of

the firm's name partners, he

“paused to gently exhort us to

remain mindful of and parti-

cipate meaningfully in what

he called 'public work,' an ac-

tivity that he thought essen-

tial for a satisfying and re-

sponsible legal career.” Mor-

die lived that credo; he was

actively involved in commu-

nity service, including for the

Federation of Jewish Philan-

thropies of New York begin-

ning in the early 1950s, ulti-

mately becoming chairman

of its Lawyers Division in

1970. He also did a great deal
      of pro bono work over the
      years; as recently as 2005, he
      represented the widow of a
      9/11 victim.
      Mordie was actively involved
      in the profession. He was a
      member of the Association of
      the Bar of the City of New
      York and the American Bar
      Association's Probate, Real
      Property and Trust Section
      for more than four decades,
      among other bar groups; he
      wasalsoafellowofthe
      American College of Probate
      Counsel. In appreciation of
      his years of dedication to the
      profession,theNewYork
      StateBar Association pre-
      sented Mordie with a special
      commendation in 2018.
      Born on December 5, 1912 in
      Manhattan to Frank and Bes-
      sie Rochlin, Mordie Rochlin
      grew up in Catskill, New York
      and New York City, where he
      graduated from New Utrecht
      High School. He earned a B.A.
      from City College of the City
      of New York in 1932, cum
      laude, and was elected to Phi
      Beta Kappa. In 1935, he gra-
      duated from Columbia Law
      School,wherehewasa
      James Kent Scholar. During
      World War II, between
      1943-1946, Mordie served in
      the Army, where he was a
      First Lieutenant.
      Mordie was married twice;
      his first wife, Ruth Lee Kane,
      passed away in 1973 after 37
      years of marriage. His se-
      cond wife, Sylvia T. Kraemer,
      whom he married in 1975,
      passed away in 2005. He had
      no children, but is survived by
      astepson,JohnKraemer,
      and a niece, Alfreda Finkel-
      stein, of Scarsdale, NY. For
      the past 60-plus years, Mordie

was a member of the Park

Avenue Synagogue. Mordie

gave generously to nume-

rous charities and organiza-

tions, among them The New

York Public Library, Colum-

bia University, UJA Federa-

tion and the Jewish Theologi-

cal Seminary, among many

others.

Mordie recalled in a recent

interview with the New York

Law Journal that he initially

struggled to get a law firm

job, because Jewish law gra-

duates weren't even sent to

interviews at the white-shoe

firms at the time. After work-

ingforashorttimeat

government jobs and com-

pleting a one-year clerkship,

Mordie landed a job at Cohen,

Cole, Weiss & Wharton, Paul,

Weiss's predecessor firm. “I

didn't realize when I walked in

the door in 1938 that I would

spend the rest of my life” at

the firm, he told the New

YorkLawJournal.“Paul,

Weiss was my life. The way I

looked on the firm, it was not

only a community of scholars

but a community of friends.”

STRUHL—Paul M.,

passedaway October23,

2020. Originally of Teaneck,
      NJandrecentlyofAllen-
      wood, NJ. Son of the late Ar-
      chie and Betty Struhl. Sur-
      vived by his daughter Arielle
      Struhl and son Aaron Struhl
      both of Bangkok, Thailand,
      his sister Marcia Schwartz
      (Boston, MA) and brothers
      StuartStruhl andMorton
      Struhl of Rancho Mirage, CA
      and niece Ariane Schwartz
      (Boston, MA).

SUMNER—Elizabeth

Huntington (nee Stevens).

October 12, 1937 - March 23,

2020. Elizabeth was born in
      Elmhurst, Illinois, the fourth
      of five children to Charlotte
      H. Stevens (nee Wood) and
      Byron Francis Stevens. She
      passed away at the age of 83
      in Rutland, Vermont. She at-
      tended the University of Wis-
      consin (Madison) to earn her
      undergraduatedegree, and
      attended the University of
      Michigan, Ann Arbor, to stu-
      dy history and earned her

Ph.C and M.A. She moved to

Vermontin 1970 toteach

worldhistoryatCastleton

University, earned her stand-

ingasProfessorEmeritus

and retired in 2007. She lived

withherpartnerPei-Heng

Chiang for nearly forty years

prior to Pei-Heng's sudden

death in 2010. Both she and

Pei-Heng shared a deep love

ofhistory,bothAmerican

and Chinese.Thefamily

would especially like to thank

all those at The Meadows

(Rutland), Vermont, for their

compassionate care during

her last years. She is

mourned by two surviving

siblings, Cynthia C. Stevens

and Charles F. Stevens, as

wellasinnumerablenep-

hews, nieces, grand nephews

and nieces, and is interred at

Ferncliff Cemetery, Hart-

sdale, New York. Due to CO-

VID-19, a memorial is not

planned. In lieu of flowers,

contributions to the Elizabeth

H.SumnerWorldHistory

Scholarship at Castleton Uni-

versitycanbemadevia

castleton.edu/donate. Click

on Yes for “Would You Like

to Donate in Someone Else's

Name” to find the scholarship

information.

EISENBERG—Selig, M.D.

Mar. 7th, 1932 - Oct. 26th, 2019

Ourfamilyappreciatesall

thethoughtsandprayers

from people who loved him

as we do.

KLEIN—Susan.

This is the 6th Anniversary of

your passing. I still think of

you constantly and always

will. Stephanie, Bryan, Robby,

and I love you and miss you.

Mel

RYNNE—Donald G.

October 26, 1923

I will hold you in my heart

until I can hold you again

in heaven.

Regina

another 15 years. His eye for

value and confident taste ex-

tended into the world of art.

While living in El Paso, Texas

Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

.