Gustav Hopf (Insurance Manager)

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Gustav Hopf

Gustav Hopf (born May 29, 1808 in Ohrdruf ; † October 8, 1872 in Gotha ) was a German insurance manager and director of the Gothaer life insurance bank for Germany .

Life

Gustav was the son of the leaseholder and landowner Johann Gottfried Hopf (1775 - before 1838), leaseholder of the Hundsbrunn estate , which is now a deserted area in the Ohrdruf military training area. Grandfather Christian Friedrich had also leased the manor. He was married to Dorothea Christiane Kayser. Gustav's mother was Beate Johanna (1781–1862), daughter of the farmer Johann Siegfried Döpping (Wechmar) and Marie Judith Ritter.

Gustav Hopf grew up in a simple family. Before attending the Ohrdrufer Gymnasium, Gustav was tutored by a private tutor because the parents recognized their son's extraordinary perception at an early age. After further training in Gotha, Hopf studied finance at the Georg-August University in Göttingen .

The versatile Hopf also showed an interest in mathematics , chemistry , physics , botany and mineralogy , the subjects of which he was taking. The student Hopf received a 2nd prize for his work on hygrometry .

After passing his state examination , he found his first job with what was then the Duke of Saxony-Gotha Chamber, first as an “ accessist ”, then as a “ rent commissais ”. During this time he met Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldi for the first time, who later brought him to Gothaer Lebensversicherungsbank.

From 1863 until his death in 1872, Hopf was the immediate successor to Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldi in the management of the fire insurance bank and the first director of the life insurance bank. Altogether he was at the head of the administration of Gothaer Lebensversicherungsbank for 37 years, from 1835 to 1841 as bank secretary and then until 1872, i.e. until his death on October 8th, as general director. His successor was Arwed Emminghaus .

Act

Gustav Hopf knew how to combine practice and theory, as described by various historians. Arwed Emminghaus wrote about his predecessor: “ Gustav Hopf was at the helm of the bank administration for no less than 37 years and during this time he saw his life's work in always perfecting the bank, this work dedicated to human well-being. What an enviable lot has been given to the rich, restless work of this man! "

As early as 1842, when the fire insurance bank was just 22 years old, it had to pass a real "ordeal": the Hamburg fire . Over 20,000 people were left homeless and large parts of the old town were destroyed. Gothaer Feuerversicherungsbank was the insurance company hardest hit. Nevertheless, Gustav Hopf and his team managed to provide an insurance benefit of 1.4 million Thalers, an enormous sum for the conditions at the time.

Gustav Hopf soon recognized the need for a professional exchange of ideas and sought conversation with numerous contemporaries. In the mid-1840s he traveled to England, where life insurance was well developed, and sought contacts with English scholars who were highly regarded for his opinions, assessments and achievements. This resulted in Hopf being appointed an "external member" by the Statistical Society of London in 1864 and the Institute of Actuaries made him its corresponding member.

Hopf enjoyed the same reputation in his circles in France, Austria and Belgium. As early as 1851, the Royal Academy of Non-Profit Science in Erfurt appointed him a corresponding member. The German governments also sought his advice and reports.

His successor Emminghaus also writes: “ Hopf has also developed a wide range of activities in his home country, in Gotha itself. He was on the supervisory board of Gothaer Privatbank, the guild hall and commercial school, the Society for Water Supply and is also the founder and promoter of various charitable and non-profit associations. "

Private

In 1838 Gustav Hopf married Marie Henneberg, daughter of the Gotha porcelain manufacturer Johann Christian Henneberg (1788–1860) and his wife Ernestina Freytag. The marriage resulted in seven children, u. a.

  • Julius (1839–1886), lawyer and politician, agent of the fire insurance bank

The four sons let them study at Göttingen University "because of the quality" .

source

  • German Insurance Museum in Gotha
  • German biography

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Gustav Hopf .
  2. ↑ Emminghaus, Arwed: History of the life insurance bank. Weimar 1877
personal data
SURNAME Hopf, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German insurance manager
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Ohrdruf
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1872
Place of death Gotha