Founder, chairman of Ace Bed Ahn Yoo-soo dies age 93

Industry

Published: 27 Jun. 2023, 18:00 Updated: 27 Jun. 2023, 18:01

Founder, chairman of Ace Bed Ahn Yoo-soo dies age 93

Ahn Yoo-soo [ACE BED]

Ahn Yoo-soo, founder and chairman of Ace Bed, died aged 93 on Monday.

Born in 1930 in Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province, Ahn found refuge in South Korea in 1951, after being separated from his parents during the Korean War.

He first came across a mattress while working as a handyman at a U.S. military base in Busan.

Ace Bed started as a mattress service center in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, in 1963. Mattresses were a state-of-the-art product in Korea at the time.

Ahn made the mattresses by hand as there was no related technology or equipment at the time, according to the mattress maker.

Ace Bed was a trailblazer in the Korean market and grew to become the largest bed company in the country with over 300 patents.

“The first-ever and highest-ever records held by Ace Bed are the fruits of Chairman Ahn’s management philosophy,” Ace Bed said in a statement.

Ahn’s eldest son, Ahn Seong-ho, is currently the CEO of Ace Bed, while his second son, Ahn Jung-ho, heads Simmons, the second-largest bed company in Korea.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]