'Adieu'for the Mother

Mrs. Park Doo-byung, widow of the late founding chairman of Doosan Group passes away

Mrs. Park Doo-byung or Myung Gye-chun, the widow of the late chairman of Doosan Group, passed away on Sept. 16 at Seoul University Hospital in Seoul. She was 95 years old. She died of an old age, family members of the mother of the Doosan household said.
She was born in 1913 and married the late founder of the conglomerate when she graduated from Sookmyung Girls High School in Seoul in 1931. She gave birth to 6 sons and a girl including Yong-kon, the eldest son, who is honorary chairman of the biz group.
Family members remember her as a dear mother to her children and good wife to her husband when she was alive, raising her 7 broods and looking after her husband. They gave her a lot of credit in the late Doosan chairman's outstanding career as businessman and leader in the nation's business community.
The late Park was chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1967 and chairman of the Asian Chamber of Commerce in 1970.
She is remembered as a frugal lady throughout her long life, by her surviving family members, although she was rich and educated her sons in such a way that they have all become successful heirs to the wealth of the Park family business empire. Doosan Heavy Industry, Doosan Infracore, Doosan Engineering and Construction and other affiliates, belong to Doosan Group.
When she married Park, she became of a member of a large family of 30 members. After the country's liberation from the Japanese rule, she did clerical work at a transport firm her family started, following the business tradition built by her mother in law who operated a flour factory.
The transport firm later became the foundation for Doosan Company, a trading firm. The family later set up the Third Motor Pool, a transport company, during the Korean war in Busan.
A large number of dignitaries, many of them friends of her sons made courtesy calls on the morgue of the university hospital and sent flowers to pay respects to the deceased and her family members.
The long list of mourners included Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Chairman Park Sam-koo of Kumho-Asiana Group, among the many from the government, business and academic communities.
The funeral service took place Sept. 19 and she was buried at the family grave site in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, near Seoul.
Chairman Park Yong-man, the fourth son, said he and other members of the family are grateful for god that she lived so long, but they didn't hide their wishes that she was still alive and live until she is a hundred years old. He told reporters covering the mourning activities at the SNU Hospital mortuary.
The CEO of Doosan Infracore, who surprised the business community by acquiring Bobcat, heavy equipment unit of the Ingersoll-Rand, said the company will do all right, as the construction industry would be back on tract in a couple of years.
He again tried to dispel rumors on funding shortages for Doosan Infracore by saying that the company expects no liquidity problems as rumors began circulating due to communication problems.
He will allocate much of his time on activities related to M&As to enhance the company's competitive edge as the M&As are the short cut to acquiring new technologies and making company products more competitive. nw

Members of the Park family pay their last respects to the widow of former chairman of Doosan Group Park Doo-byung at the alter set up at the Seoul National University Hospital Sept. 19. She passed away Sept. 16. From the right in the front row are Chairman Park Yong-hyun of Doosan E&C, Chairman Park Yong-sung of Doosan Heavy Industries, Chairman Park Yong-maan of Doosan Infracore and Chairman Park Yong-wook of Ee-saeng Group.