Bae Jun-young, wife of the late Poongsan Group founder Ryu Chan-u, died Saturday after suffering from a chronic disease. She was 87.

Bae is widely known for her passion in educating and supporting Korean women in sports.

She has devoted herself to developing young talented players and supporting them with financial assistance, and worked to promote exchange programs with China and Japan.

For the past 15 years, she sponsored scholarships for students, as a member of the Korean Association of University Women’s financial committee.

She also chaired the Korea Women’s Tennis Association for 27 years, and had sponsored the Korea Open women’s tennis championship since 2004.

“Mrs. Bae’s many contributions to community sports throughout Korea will benefit many generations to come,” Poongsan Group spokesman Yoon Jin-suk said in an emailed statement.

“We express our sincere gratitude to those who showed love and kindness to Mrs. Bae during her lifetime. She was a very special, warm-hearted woman, and she will be greatly missed.”

The funeral will be held Tuesday at the main auditorium of the Poongsan Building in Chungjeong-no, Seoul.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)