I left for Manila when I was 22. Johns family is now in charge of more than $20 billion of the total market capitalization for all the companies owned by them. He soon realized he could do more if he had a bicycle. He had been Executive Vice President of JGSHI and was elected President and Chief Operating Officer effective January 1, 2002. (Although James says his retirement wont be total retirementI will still be around as executive chairman. He pointed at me and called me, and in his grungy voice, asked me directly without blinking: How are our coffee sales? I responded: Were doing much better this month Angkong! [17] As a result, its income and revenues fell. For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. John Gokongwei was a Filipino billionaire businessman and philanthropist, best known as the founder and former chairman of JG Summit. Thanks for your feedback to [emailprotected]. If not, just play around, play around! while all the nurses AND physicians were there surrounding him. In 1977, Gokongwei earned his Master of Business Administration from De La Salle University. Her name was taken from her father's second name, Robinson. He is also survived by wife Elizabeth and daughters Lisa, Robina, Faith, Hope and Marcia. After the war, Big John took it as a good opportunity to expand his trading business abroad. [13] Gokongwei's great-grandfather was a half brother of Gotianun's grandfather. The familys freshest wound stems from its foray into the countrys thorny telecommunications sector. Gokongwei often has his pants pockets stuffed with peanuts, his favorite snack, and is known to leave a trail of shells. With the success of his Amasia trading, Big John reunited with his family back in the Philippines. Johns eldest daughter, Robina, has been serving as the operations head and COO of Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (which owns the Robinsons Malls) since 2002. To this day, my cousins and I still play mahjong every Sunday lunch, but I guarantee that none of us could match the sharpness that both my Amah and Angkong had when it comes to mahjong. My thay-kong (Hokkien for great-grandpa) wasnt able to prepare well for his succession in the case of my grandfather, who was his eldest son. He eventually unloaded his stake. In 1992, John together with his brothers, Johnson, Henry, and James, donated a significant portion of their shares from JG Summit to their very own foundation, Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) which aims to create lasting impact on education in the Philippines. The eldest grandson of John L. Gokongwei, Jr. and son of Robinsons Retail Holdings president Robina Gokongwei-Pe, the New York University-educated, 24-year-old Justin G. Pe shared his. And now at your old age to tear away from it, its very hard.. John Robinson Lim Gokongwei, Jr. (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: W Yhu; Peh-e-j: G Ek-hui; born Go Ek-hui) is a Filipino business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Front row: Daughters Faith and Marcia Photo by FROM T&C PH. JG Summit's legend is well known among the firm's 35,000 employees: Gokongwei, the eldest of six children, grew up well-off in an ethnic Chinese family in Cebu, where his father owned a chain. Wake details are private, to be shared with family and friends, the children said. 8List Editor. He never gave up in what he believed in, always took risks, and continuously learned new things. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Credit: Munshi Ahmed for Forbes. Together, they have two children, Hannah and Jacob. In 1939 and at the age of 34, John died after contracting typhoid, leaving behind a 31-year-old widow and six childrenand unfortunately, alarmed creditors worried that his theater chain would fail without him. Gemma Cruz Araneta, the first Filipina Miss International in 1964, is a Rizal descendant, the first major beauty contest winner Its the time of year when first cousins who once moved to the other side of the world come for a visit. [16] In 2020, the company was hit by quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was sufficiently successful that another production line was required to meet demand. In the early 1950s, along with his brothers and sisters who returned from China, he started to import cigarettes and whiskey too. We need hard work, perseverance, innovation, courage, and total dedication. Indeed, for the don of JG Summit, retirement remains an unnatural act. In family conversation, it was never "John Gokongwei." He was always fondly referred to as "Iya" while his mother Juanita, half-sister to my grandfather Jose Asensi Marquez Lim, was . John Gokongwei Jr. built JG Summit into one of the, biggest conglomerates in the Philippines. Gokongwei is survived by his wife of 61 years, Elizabeth, and his children Robina, Lance, Lisa, Faith, Hope and Marcia; siblings Eddie, James Go and Lily; in-laws and grandchildren. He was 93 years old at the time of his death. Then came the Japanese occupation in 1942. His siblings then joined his business. But one in particular made me pause and reflect. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. He recalls bowing to the imperial soldiers. In 1958, John and Elizabeth got married and had six beautiful children: Robina, Lance, Lisa, twins Faith, Hope, and Marcia. John always went for the best; he liked to take on challenges. He then asked me: You have girlfriend? He taught us everything that we needed to know, like not bragging about what you have, ABSOLUTELY NO ENTITLEMENT, showing me how to ride a bike, teaching me how to drink coffee and it has to be Great Taste and for the single ones like me, what I needed to know about playing around. She had also been a founding member of the Robinsons Department Store and had served on the board of trustees of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF). He also gave donations to University of San Carlos, Xavier School, De La Salle University, Sacred Heart School Ateneo de Cebu and Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA).[9]. John made JG Summit Holdings a publicly-listed holding company in November 1990. A business partner of ours from Indonesia asked about the wake details and interment and told me he wanted to fly in to visit. [He's] somebody who created somethingit was the center of his life. He is the Vice-Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of RLC and LMI. John Gokongwei's Nine Rules of Success. John Gokongwei I'm from Cebu. Back then, when I used to work for Shell, he told me that he really wanted to see me join the business before he passed away. During those very tough days in the hospital when we never knew whether he would give up or still fight, I happened to catch him in his best moment. His great-grandfather, Pedro Gotiaoco, was one of the richest men in Cebu in the 19th century. Her twin sisters, Faith and Hope, each have management roles there. He then finished his last two years in Singapore. In February 2008, Forbes Asia magazine's first Heroes of Philanthropy list included four Filipinos Gokongwei, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Ramn del Rosario Jr. and Oscar Lpez. It does not store any personal data. Though he belonged to an affluent trading family, he lost all his wealth after his fathers death. John Gokongwei was married to Elizabeth Yu from 1958 until his death in 2019. But hed always remind me that one should not worry about defeat. 2023 ABS-CBN Corporation. The Gokongwei Family in Cebu, 1938. Johns group also included Robinsons Land Corporation and Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. On August 11, 2016, which was also Johns 90th birthday, he declared his retirement from all the functions of JG Summit. I eventually entered the family business in July. But as for the second question, Ill get to that much later. He graduated valedictorian. In 1957 Gokongweis business was getting bogged down by import controls that made it difficult to obtain licenses. Because once when I lived in the US, I came across a wheelchair-bound columnist who wrote about his life. His conglomerate company JG Summit Holdings, Inc., had an extensive panoply of business and investment holdings across the Filipino economy, including shipping, telecommunications, retail, financial services, petrochemicals, utilities, aviation, food, beverages, and livestock farming. Since then, Big John was unstoppable as he built one of the Philippines biggest business empires, the JG Summit. But in the end, it was his family that made John Gokongwei live a happy and content life. [14], Gokongwei died in Manila on 9 November 2019, at the age of 93. Philstar.com is one of the most vibrant, opinionated, discerning communities of readers on cyberspace. I initially thought that Id have a hard time in the family business due to the alleged long hours and a salary lower than I got in Shell but oh how I was truly mistaken. Other key JG Summit businesses, including land development, banking and petrochemicals (closely held with revenues of $415 million in 2015), are run by extended family members and professionals who arent at the Gokongwei Sunday lunches but convene with James, Lance, Lisa and Robina every Friday afternoon to thrash out corporate matters. Together, the siblings worked in their fathers family business, American-Asia Trading. When Angkong needed a pillow to lay his arm on at the hospital, my Auntie Marcia thought of bringing that pillow. ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW Exactly a week later, November 16, 2019, Elizabeth also died. Lisa is in charge of Summit Media. His father died when Gokongwei was only age 13. Around then Gokongwei advised brother James, 13 years younger and a gifted student, to go study in America, and hed foot the bill. He came from Fujian province in China and owned a huge trading company, Gotiaoco Hermanos. Follow @wilsonleeflores on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. A A. On Gokongweis pioneering heavy industry project of petrochemicals for the Philippines, Go said: One of our guests last night found out that I was handling petrochemicals and told me this was Mr. Johns baby and he was very proud of it. He and his family thus focused on manufacturing. Elizabeth Yus father owned a hardware store there. Do you know that his nickname in Hokkien (south Fujian dialect) was Iya? Lance demurred in favor of his family destiny, now firmly set in motion by his uncles timetable. . I told him he didnt need to and that his expression of sympathy was already much appreciated by the family. Hisgreat-grandfather(18591921; simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: WWnzho; Peh-e-j: GBnthiu),a young peddler from China, was HispanizedasPedroSingsonGotiaoco(simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; Peh-e-j: G-thiu-ko) and became one of the Philippines' most prominent Chinese Filipinos. All Rights Reserved. We were in Rome, Italy then, it was just house coffee and tasted so bitter. The movie theaters, cars and the big house were all seized by the banks. You may have passed away, but your legacy will live on. - A A +. He always made sure that he worked hard and smart, giving 100% of his effort in everything he did. His nephew Patrick Henry Go, president and CEO of JG Summit Petrochemicals Group, shared a memory of witnessing an animated late afternoon meeting between his late dad Henry Go and Gokongwei on whether to further expand their diverse businesses. Let me talk about other things first. Aside from their conglomerate, JG Summit also has interests in PLDT, Manila Electric Company, and other global companies like United Industrial and more. The Filipino billionaire is known as the founder of JG Summit Holdings, one of the Philippines' largest conglomerates. John Gokongwei Jr., whose rags-to-riches story has inspired many Filipino entrepreneurs, died on November 9 at . We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The Gokongwei family controls over $20 billion of combined market capitalization for all the companies they own. [20], Gokongwei was awarded the 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, one of Ten Outstanding Young Men in the Philippines in 2000, Finance Asias Best CEO in 2015 and 2018, and Institutional Investors Best CEO in 2015.[21]. The Filipino-Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist died Saturday night, Nov. 9, 2019 at the age of 93 surrounded by family at the Manila Doctors Hospital in Manila.. His status as the country's third richest businessman, with a wealth of $5.3 billion according to Forbes magazine was . The last time I had visited him at his home a few months ago, he seemed to have lost some weight but was nevertheless in good health and still intellectually sharp.