TAIPEI —
Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-ching, the island’s third-richest man
and founder of petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics Corp, died
Wednesday while visiting his company’s U.S. subsidiary in New
Jersey, the corporation said Thursday. He was 91. Wang, who built
up his financial empire from scratch in the 1950s, died in his
sleep from heart failure, the company said. He is survived by two
daughters and eight sons.
Last year, Formosa Plastics, valued at about $60 billion, was
Taiwan’s most profitable company, local media said, while Forbes
listed Wang as the world’s 178th richest man and the third richest
here, with an estimated net worth of $5.5 billion. Wang’s
rags-to-riches career spanning seven decades paralleled, and indeed
spurred to some extent, the island’s transformation from an
agricultural backwater to a high-tech, services-based economy.