Han Jong-Hee, who played a pivotal role as the co-chief executive at Samsung Electronics and amassed nearly four decades of experience with the South Korean tech titan, passed away on Tuesday.
At 63, Han met a sudden end due to a heart attack, as disclosed by a company spokesperson.
Since 2022, Han had been sharing the responsibilities of chief executive with Jun Young-Hyun, who leads Samsung’s semiconductor division. Following Han’s passing, Jun was appointed as the sole chief executive of Samsung Electronics, a change announced by the company in a public statement.
Having taken the helm of Samsung’s consumer electronics segment in 2021, Han expanded his portfolio a year later to include digital appliances and served on the board of directors. His earlier career involved guiding the division responsible for manufacturing visual displays across Samsung’s diverse range of electronic products.
An alumnus of Inha University in Incheon, South Korea, Han held a degree in electrical engineering. He began his journey with Samsung in 1988, not long after the passing of its founder, Lee Byung-chull, during a transformative era for the company.
Under the leadership of Lee’s successor, who aggressively drove technological innovation in the 1990s and 2000s, Samsung ascended to become a leader in the realms of flat-screen displays and mobile phones.
As the most prominent of the chaebols reshaping South Korea into a global economic powerhouse, Samsung Electronics is a substantial contributor to the nation’s export figures. The brand is a heavyweight in the global smartphone arena, fiercely competing with the likes of Apple and Xiaomi. It also holds the mantle as the world’s leading producer of memory chips, integral to a wide array of applications from electric cars and smartwatches to advanced AI servers.
Han leaves behind his wife and three children, as confirmed by the company. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday at the funeral hall of Samsung Seoul Hospital, according to the spokesperson.
