Fritz Gerber (Manager)

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Fritz Gerber (born March 22, 1929 in Bern ; † May 10, 2020 in Basel ) was a Swiss manager .

Life

Fritz Gerber grew up in Huttwil in the Emmental . He studied law at the University of Bern and graduated with a lic. jur. from. He also obtained the advocacy license as a notary for the Canton of Bern. He started his career at the Federal Department of Economic Affairs in Bern (now SECO ), where he worked for two years. Then in 1958 he joined the Zurich Insurance Company in Zurich . There he was deployed for various tasks and gained his first international experience as a restructuring of ailing subsidiaries in India and Australia . In 1965, when he was only 36 years old, he was appointed the youngest director of this insurance group. He continued his steep career and from 1977 held the double function of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors . From 1991 to 1995 he limited himself to the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zurich . Under his leadership, this company rose to become one of the most successful international industrial insurers. After 1995 he held the office of honorary president.

He was one of the few personalities who held management positions at two of the largest Swiss companies for many years. At Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO from 1978 to 1997. Gerber had a skilled hand with acquisitions, particularly the stake in Genentech in South San Francisco . This biotech company was later fully acquired and developed some of the most successful drugs for the Roche Group. The takeover of Boehringer Mannheim significantly strengthened the Roche Diagnostics division . From 1997 to 2004 he continued to be a member of the Roche Board of Directors. In 2004 he was made Honorary President of Roche.

Further mandates on boards of directors

further activities

  • Honorary President of the Fritz Gerber Foundation for talented young people
  • President of the Paul Sacher Foundation for Contemporary Music (until 2006)
  • Member of the Board of Trustees of the Lucerne Festival (until 2004)
  • Member of the "Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra" (until 2004)

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dr. hc Fritz Gerber. Roche Board of Directors, accessed May 18, 2020
  2. ↑ Dominik Feldges: Fritz Gerber, the former boss of Zurich and Roche, is dead NZZ, May 11, 2020, accessed on May 18, 2020
  3. ^ Roche Honorary President Fritz Gerber died at the age of 91. Roche press release, May 11, 2020, accessed May 18, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Gerber, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss manager
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 2020
Place of death Basel