| Hi Duk Lee | |
| Birth Date: | 29 July 1939[1] |
| Birth Place: | South Korea |
| Death Place: | Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Spouse: | Kil Ja Lee |
| Children: | 1 son, 2 daughters |
Hi Duk Lee (July 29, 1939 – March 7, 2019) was a Korean-born American businessman. He owned more than 40 businesses in Koreatown, Los Angeles, including Korean grocery stores, restaurants and a hotel. He became known as the "pioneer" of Koreatown.
Lee was born in 1939 in Korea,[2] where his parents were farmers.[3] He studied engineering in Korea and worked in West Germany in 1966–1968.[3] Lee emigrated to the United States in 1968, settling in Los Angeles, California.[2] [4] [5]
Lee developed what came to be known as Koreatown, or "Second Seoul", in Los Angeles.[5] As early as 1971, he built the Olympic Market, "one of the first Korean-owned groceries in Los Angeles", at Olympic Boulevard and Normandie Avenue.[4] He subsequently built over 40 grocery stores and restaurants in Korean Village, as well as the VIP Hotel at 3000 West Olympic Boulevard, but he went bankrupt in 1982.[4]
With his wife Kil Ja, Lee had a son, Roger, and two daughters, Susan and Helen. He died of colon cancer on March 7, 2019, in Silver Lake, at age 79.[4] [5]