Günter Fronius

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Günter Kurt Fronius (born November 11, 1907 in Sibiu , Transylvania ; † July 21, 2015 ) was a Romanian -German- Austrian entrepreneur, inventor and founder of the Fronius International company .

Life

Fronius was the son of a master miller and a Transylvanian Saxon . He attended high school in Schäßburg , completed an apprenticeship as an electrician and studied engineering at the Technical University of Wroclaw . At the end of the war he fled his home country with the aim of Canada, but came to the market town of Pettenbach (Upper Austria) in May 1945 , repaired a broken hydropower plant on the Alm and was allowed to work in a garage on the property of the electricity supplier. First, work was done in a garage in the “Gasthof Ranklleiten” outside the village. There he and his wife founded the company Fronius Elektrobau for electrotechnical equipment in June 1945 . At the beginning, radios were repaired. A year later, in 1946, he bought a barrack with around 100 m² of floor space nearby, where he was one of the first electricians in Upper Austria to start producing and repairing battery chargers. Later, with 15 employees, the company developed the first welding rectifier in Austria, probably also in Europe, with magnet-yoke control .

His two children took over the company in the 1980s. Even when he was over 100 years old, he went to eat “every day” in the works canteen. The internationally active company with a high export quota subsequently developed lighter welding inverters and solar power electronics.

Fronius remained connected to his Romanian homeland. He painted and played the piano, violin and guitar and repeatedly brought young people from Transylvania to Thalheim near Wels during the summer holidays .

In the end, Fronius was the oldest known Austrian man by name. He was 107 years old.

Honors

Chancellor Viktor Klima awarded him the professional title of Commercial Councilor and the Pettenbach community made him an honorary citizen. In 2007, Governor Josef Pühringer presented him with the Julius Raab Medal , the highest award of the German Economic Association . Pühringer congratulated him - the oldest Upper Austrian - on his 106th birthday, praised him as an “energetic master builder of the Upper Austrian economic area” and praised his commitment to the expellees.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Fronius died at the age of 107 . derstandard.at July 24, 2015, accessed August 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Siebenbürgische Zeitung: Günter Fronius celebrates 100th birthday ; Retrieved May 2, 2011
  3. ^ Community Thalheim: J. Raab medal for company founder ; Retrieved May 2, 2011
  4. ↑ Christian Schuster, Siebenbürger Nachbarschaft Wels: KR Ing.Günter Fronius died at the age of 107 (obituary) landlerhilfe.at, (July 21) 2015, accessed August 21, 2020.
  5. ^ OE1: Günter Fronius - 100 Plus , broadcast on May 2, 2011
  6. ↑ Upper Austria. Entrepreneur Günter Fronius died at the age of 107 . Salzburger Nachrichten, salzburg.com July 24, 2015, accessed August 2, 2015.
  7. ^ State of Upper Austria: State correspondence No. 261 of November 13, 2007
  8. ↑ Günter Fronius is the oldest Upper Austrian , ORF.at from November 11, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Fronius, Günter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fronius, Günter Kurt (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian-Austrian entrepreneur, inventor and founder of Fronius International
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Sibiu , Transylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 2015