Ilhan New
Ilhan New (유일한 柳一韓, January 15, 1895 – March 11, 1971) was a Korean independence activist and entrepreneur. He founded La Choy Food Products, Inc. and Yuhan Co, Ltd. His original Korean name was Ilhyeong New.
Ilhan New | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 15, 1895 |
| Died | March 11, 1971 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | Korea |
| Education | University of Michigan (B.Com.) University of Southern California (MBA) Stanford University (J.D.) |
| Ilhan New | |
| Hangul | 유일한 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 柳一韓 |
| Revised Romanization | Yu Il(-)han |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yu Irhan |
Early life
New was born in 1895 in Pyongyang among nine brothers and sisters, and emigrated to the United States at the age of 9.[1] In America he gained a degree from the University of Michigan and founded La Choy Foods in 1922.[2][3]
Yuhan Corporation
New returned to Korea in 1926, where he established the Yuhan Corporation under the notion that “Only healthy people can reclaim their sovereignty.”[4] Believing that it was the duty and responsibility of a business to develop itself for the prosperity of all of society, New traded Yuhan in the stock exchange for the first time in the Korean pharmaceutical industry and started a program of employee ownership.[1] He was involved in the establishment of Mangho-Kun and participating in the NAPKO Project, the Country reclamation operation initiated by the United States Office of Strategic Services. In 1943, he authored a booklet entitled "Korea and the Pacific War" which was based on a report he prepared for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He also founded several schools.[1]
Death and legacy
When he died at the age of 77, he donated all his wealth to the public foundation named the Korean Society and Education Aid Trust Fund.[1] Jae-Ra New, Il-han New's first-born daughter, also contributed her entire fortune to a Korean public foundation named the Yuhan Foundation when she died in 1991.
The Yuhan Foundation and Yuhan School he founded are active in a variety of public welfare activities, scholarship programs and education for students. These activities are supported by the Yuhan Corporation's high dividend policy.
References
- Kate Gillespie; H. David Hennessey (2 February 2010). Global Marketing. Cengage Learning. p. 523. ISBN 978-1-111-78765-3.
- Anne Soon Choi (2007). Korean Americans. Infobase Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4381-0714-1.
- 황명수. "유일한(柳一韓)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- Wayne Visser; Nick Tolhurst (1 June 2010). The World Guide to CSR: A Country-By-Country Analysis of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility. Greenleaf Publishing. p. 377. ISBN 978-1-907643-09-5.