Lin Rong-san (; 27 May 1939 – 28 November 2015) was a Taiwanese politician, publisher, real estate developer and businessman. He was the founder of Union Bank of Taiwan, and the publisher of ''

Liberty Times The ''Liberty Times'' is a national newspaper published in Taiwan. Founded by Lin Rong-San, it is published by the Liberty Times Group. The newspaper was first published on 17 April 1980, as Liberty Daily, before adopting its current name in 198 ...

'' group that also includes its English-language version ''

Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is an English-language print newspaper in Taiwan published by the Liberty Times Group. Founded as the third English-language newspaper on 15 June 1999, it is currently the last surviving English-language print newspaper i ...

''.

Career

He was a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party from 1977 to 2015. He won a controversial election against '' Tangwai'' candidate to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

in 1975. He was later accused of involving electoral fraud, which was published in "''The Tiger Falls in Pingyang: The Election! Lawsuit! Kuo Yu-hsin (''虎落平陽－選戰！官司！郭雨新)". He was named Vice President of the

Control Yuan The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China, both during its time in mainland China and Taiwan. Designed as a hybrid of auditor and ombudsman by Taiwanese law, the Control Yuan holds th ...

in 1992, but stepped down to focus on the ''Liberty Times''. In June 2008, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine ranked him as the seventh richest of Taiwan, with a net worth of US$2.7 billion. Lin fell to eighth on the same list in 2010, then slid to tenth in 2011. In November 2015, his fortune was valued at US$3.9 billion. Lin was awarded the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon by

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; pinyin: ''Lǐ Dēnghuī''; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China, president of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) unde ...

in 2000, followed by the Order of Propitious Clouds with Grand Cordon from

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...

in 2008. His older brother is the billionaire real estate developer Lin Yu-lin.

Personal life

Lin died at home in Taipei on 28 November 2015, from cardiopulmonary failure caused by a tumor.

References

1939 births 2015 deaths Taiwanese bankers Taiwanese publishers (people) Taiwanese billionaires Businesspeople from New Taipei Senior advisors to President Lee Teng-hui Senior advisors to President Chen Shui-bian Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan New Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Yilan County Members of the Legislative Yuan Keelung Members of the Legislative Yuan Taiwanese members of the Control Yuan Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Taiwanese newspaper founders {{Taiwan-business-bio-stub