Yulon Group (裕隆集團) chief executive officer Kenneth Yen (嚴凱泰) died yesterday at the age of 54, Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) announced in a statement.
Yen’s wife, Lilian Chen (嚴陳莉蓮), is to take over for her husband, and corporate operations would not be affected by Yen’s death, the statement said.
The statement did not specify the cause of Yen’s death, but Chinese-language media reports, citing unnamed sources at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said Yen had been treated at the hospital for some time for esophageal cancer.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
The news caught many off guard, although media reports said Yen’s absence from an investors’ conference in June had aroused speculations about his health.
Yulon Group at the time said he had taken a day off due to a leg injury.
Yen was the only child of Yen Ching-ling (嚴慶齡), the founder of Yulon Group, and “Iron Lady” Vivian Shun-wen Wu (吳舜文), the group’s former chairwoman.
He studied at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and after returning home in 1989, he joined the automaker as a vice president.
He was appointed the group’s chief executive officer in 1990.
After Yulon Motor reported losses for the third consecutive year in 1995, Yen decided to restructure the automaker by moving its Taipei office and plant in what was then Sindian, Taipei County, to a site in Miaoli County’s Sanyi Township (三義) to lower overheads and to integrate the office and factory.
Under his leadership, Yulon Motor introduced the Cefiro passenger car in 1995, which became the best-selling vehicle in the nation and helped turn around the company.
Yen took over as chairman of Yulon Motor in 2007 from his mother and expanded the group’s business scope to industries including textiles, electronics and construction.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting