A brief look back:
Mr. Tae Hoon Jhin was born to Mr. and Mrs. Chang Hyun Jhin on July 4, 1929 in Kae Sung, North Korea. He was the eldest of seven brothers and sisters.
He went to South Korea in 1950 as a refugee and remained there until 1973.
He majored in Political Science at Kun Kook University, receiving a B.S. in 1962.
He came to the U.S. in 1973 and started Jinny Corp. Today, Jinny is a multimillion dollar corporation with three distribution centers in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami.
Mr. Jhin helped start the OTC Beauty Supply Association in 1990 and became the first Chairman of the Board (1991-1992).
He also published the only magazine to cover the multicultural beauty industry, named OTC Beauty Magazine.
My Father, Tae Hoon Jhin
by Eddie Jhin
Mr. Tae Jhin, my father, had cancer of lung and liver and was trying to battle this since June 29. The founder and CEO of Jinny Beauty Supply Company, Inc. passed away at 10:45pm on Friday, Oct. 13, 2006.
He passed away seeing all the members of his various families. My father’s pastor was there to open the gates for him as well. It was the greatest moment that I have ever witnessed personally. He nodded to what we were saying to his last breathe. He passed away with no pain, even closing his eyes on his own at the end.
There are so many stories of my father that I want to share with everyone, but I want to mention the most important lessons that he has instilled in me: “Nothing can be done without sacrifice.” He said this to me so many times that it still fresh in my mind. What he meant by this was that in order to be strive to be better in life, one must sacrifice a part of oneself. No single person alone can be the best in all areas of his/her life; something needs to be sacrificed in order to achieve greatness in any one area.
To me, my father sacrificed his own leisure time for the benefit of his company. It was not until he was in the hospital that he told me he wanted to go fishing and travel with my mother to places that they had never been, just to enjoy what the world has to offer. He also mentioned that he would like to come to the company a maximum of two or three times a week to see how his company was doing and have meetings with the manufacturer representatives and brokers. It was at that moment that I realized he really did sacrifice a large portion of his life to build a solid company. He worked so hard to achieve this.
Another comment I remember my father making was, “People call me stingy and they say that I don’t know how to spend money.” I know for a fact that he was stingy. My father was separated from his parents in North Korea at the age of 17 due to the Korean War. He was left to fend for himself, financially and mentally, without any help or guidance from family members. Due to his hardships and the type of person he was, he personally helped many people throughout his entire life by opening up opportunities for them. I would say he knew the value of a dollar and how hard it is to make an honest dollar. One day, he said to me, “If you walk all over any town for a whole day, you will never find a dollar on the street, anywhere.” I have found this to be so true! My father valued everything and he did not take anything for granted, even at his last moment.
I see my father as an imperfect man who made mistakes in his life, but no matter what, he is a perfect example of the American dream. He is my personal hero. He came to the U.S. in 1973 at the age of 41, by himself, with less than $1,500 USD in his pocket. Without any financial help from others, he created the Jinny Beauty Supply we all know today. I can’t imagine the type of treatment he must have received from all sides of the industry during those early years. But, amazingly enough, he did it and he never stopped. When I was younger, he told me that his dream was to build a $100 million USD company. The moment he did, he raised his goal to a higher number. I did not view this as greed; I admired his vision as a challenge to become something bigger than what God has intended for him to be.
In his last hours, when Pastor Kim gave my father a prayer and baptized him, my father opened his eyes wide as he gripped my mother’s and Pastor Kim’s hands as hard as he could. It was amazing to witness in person this miracle of God’s work. To be very honest with all of you, in the past, my father and I had not been the “church going type” of people. To me, this experience has changed my perspective in many ways. I now know, for a fact, that my father is smiling at us from above and letting us know that he will be watching us from time to time.
My father, and my only true boss, is my personal hero. I hope and pray that when it is my time to leave this world, my children will respect and miss me with all their heart, the way we do with him. I salute my father with the utmost respect and thanks for everything he has done for us.
Eddie Jhin,
Son and President of Jinny Corp.
Eulogy
by Mr. Samuel C. Kim, long-time friend and colleague of Mr. Tae H. Jhin
Letting go of Mr. Tae Jhin, the man who lays before us today, will undoubtedly be one of the most difficult things that we will have to do. We are in great pain, sorrow and sadness as we face this great challenge set before us today. As he leaves us, to be with God up in heaven where he will be much loved, there are many fond memories of him left with us. To name just a few:
Though he was a man of very few words, he was always very warm and caring.
He achieved the American Dream, proving himself to be a great role model to a large number of Korean-Americans.
As Mr. Chang Bum Kim reminded us today, Mr. Jhin was a very devoted family man. He never once forgot his siblings who are in North Korea, and he always tried to help them achieve a better life. When Mr. Jhin and I were having dinner one night, he mentioned how his thoughts were always on his siblings in North Korea. He wished there was a way he could connect them with his children in the U.S. Even though he was very stern and perhaps too strong of a man at times, whenever he thought about his siblings, he would become teary-eyed with his immense love for them. His youngest daughter, Jennifer, was surprised to see that her often strict father had such a tender side.
As all of you may already know, he was the first person to help if there was someone in need of it. He gave courage and assistance to anyone feeling disappointed; he gave physical assistance and provided vision to someone who was feeling despair. He was like a comfortable shoulder to lean on, and I am sure that we all knew that. Even when he was bed-ridden, he always worried about his sons, daughter, grandchildren and wife who never left his side. Behind his quietness and sternness, there was a kinder and gentle heart filled with deep love.
Mr. Tae Jhin immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s, where he started from scratch, empty-handed. He built Jinny Beauty Supply, now a multimillion dollar corporation through his hard work, talent and dedication. Through this, we can tell how hard he worked to achieve the American dream. He is a huge role model and an inspiration to many. People who don’t know him might have thought that his success was by pure chance and luck. However, the Mr. Tae Jhin that I knew was someone who was smarter than any MBA-holder or financial advisor that I know. His greatest ethics in life were hard work, frugality and integrity; these are the characteristics that helped Jinny get to where it is today.
His dedication did not stray in his later years. He was at work by 4 a.m., when everyone else was still asleep (he would make the coffee for his employees); his day didn’t end until 8 p.m., when everyone else had already gone home and had dinner. He had spent the last 30 years like this. He never even went on vacation because he always put work before anything else. It mattered a lot that his time was never wasted away. Some people called him a workaholic, but he didn’t even blink an eye. Until today, this characteristic is a major part of what has made Jinny the largest multi-cultural beauty supplier in the world.
Not only was he hard working and strategic in his business tactics, but he was also very transparent with his credit policies, making him a role model and a source of inspiration for manufacturers, exporters and everyone else in the business.
Mr. Tae Jhin, the man who was so kind, warm, hard-working and tenacious, is no longer with us. It is a great loss to us all. He has left us to be with God in heaven and will still look after us from above, making sure that we are all doing well. As he has always done, he will never stop caring and praying for us up there.
Mr. Tae Jhin will always look after his family, his business and all of the people that he loved. He emphasized hard work and restraint in pursuit of a better life for all. The only thing that I want to say before I end this eulogy is, “Hey, my friend, see you in heaven.”
Resolution
by Geri Duncan Jones, executive director of the AHBAI
as stated on Oct. 17, 2006
“To Eddie, Scott, Jennifer, Mrs. Jhin and the entire Jhin family:
I stand before you on behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Health & Beauty Aids Institute to offer our deepest sympathy in the loss of Mr. Jhin.
Mr. Jhin was a very powerful man. Yes, he was one of the most powerful men in the beauty industry, without question.
He helped to revolutionize the beauty industry by creating a new channel of distribution, which opened up thousands of beauty supply stores across the country. These stores helped to create new business opportunities for many manufacturers and we are grateful that God allowed Mr. Jhin to pass our way.
Tonight is a great testament to his life as hundreds of manufacturers, beauty and barber suppliers and other beauty industry executives have traveled here from across the country to pay tribute to such a great man.
At this time, I ask that all the representatives from the beauty industry please stand as I read our Resolution:
Whereas, again a human spirit has taken its flight at the call of the Heavenly Father to the mansion prepared for him from the foundation of the earth by an all-wise and loving God, we pen these resolutions to express our sympathy in the loss of Tae H. Jhin, founder and CEO, Jinny Corporation.
Whereas, the American Health & Beauty Aids Institute has lost a wonderful person in the passing of Mr. Jhin, we rejoice that his belief in the promise of God in Psalm 73:24 is now fulfilled. “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory.
Therefore, be it resolved:
– That, Mr. Jhin was a major OTC wholesaler who played an integral role in the beauty industry by significantly xpanding distribution through OTC B&B’s nationally.
– That, Mr. Jhin’s conhttp://www.jinny.com/images/news/taehoonjhin_1.jpgtributions to the beauty industry were innumerable and will continue to have a positive impact for many years to come.
– That, even as we mourn Mr. Jhin’s death, we are resigned to our all-wise Heavenly Father’s will.
– That, we express to Eddie Jhin, the Jhin Family and the Jinny Corporation family our deep sympathy in their loss and the reminder that their loss is heaven’s gain.
Humbly submitted on this 17th day of October, two thousand six.”
WRITTEN BY JINNY UNITED
