Harald Ecker

Harald Herbert Ecker (born November 24, 1939 in Homburg , Saar) is a German lawyer , author and specialist journalist .

Life

Ecker spent his youth in Homburg / Saar, where he graduated from high school for boys in 1958. After studying law at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken and at the Free University in Berlin, he passed the first legal state examination (trainee examination), then the second (assessor examination). He is married and has two sons.

With admission and practice as a lawyer , he founded his own law firm in Saarbrücken-Dudweiler in 1967 , which he led for decades. In 2005 he sold the practice to a long-term colleague. He then worked as a freelancer in this practice until he retired in 2013.

In 1973 the representative assembly of Volksbank Dudweiler eG (second largest Volksbank and cooperative bank in Saarland) elected him to the supervisory board . In 1974 he was appointed chairman of the bank's supervisory board. Under his leadership, mergers took place, such as the takeover of Volksbank Quiigart eG and Volksbank Sulzbachtal eG. In 2013 the Volksbank Dillingen was taken over, whereby the name of the bank was changed to Vereinigte Volksbank Dillingen Dudweiler Sulzbach / Saar , called Vereinigte Volksbank eG or VVB for short.

The annual meeting of the Saarland Bar Association elected him on April 26, 1980 to the board of the Bar Association. In 1988 the Chamber Board appointed him treasurer of the Chamber, he also became a member of the Presidium of the Chamber Board. From 1990 he headed the licensing and fees department. From 1992 to 1998 he headed the specialist lawyer committee for administrative law . He was heavily involved in the profession with regard to capital and asset investments of the Saarland Lawyers' Pension Fund (pensions for lawyers), in particular as a leading, coordinating member in the three special funds of the pension fund. In 2000 he resigned from the board of the bar at his own request. At the request of his colleagues, he remained a leading, coordinating member of the three special funds until he resigned from these offices in 2010.

In 2012 he resigned from the supervisory board of the United Volksbank eG due to age and statutes, thus after 39 years of membership in this body, which he had headed for 38 years as chairman of the supervisory board. In 2012 the board of the United Volksbank eG appointed him a member of the honorary council, of which he has been a member since then.

In 2014, Ecker was elected as a representative to the representative assembly of the pension fund of the Saarland Bar Association. He is the honorary commander of respected wine brotherhoods. Since 1994 he has been a member of the Rotary Club St. Ingbert; he was president in the 2001/02 Rotary year and treasurer for several years.

Culinary specialist author

In addition to his main job as a lawyer, he worked as a specialist journalist and wrote wine books. From 1985 to 2013 he worked as an independent international specialist journalist for wines , spirits and cuisine on behalf of German and foreign trade magazines.

He gained an international reputation as a wine writer ("the distinguished German wine writers", l'amateur de BORDEAUX, 26/90). He wrote about German and foreign wines, especially French wines . In Germany he turned to the wine lover in “Alles über Wein” - a former magazine for wine culture, travel and gastronomy - or to the wine trade, gastronomy and informed consumers in the “Weinwirtschaft”, a professional German public organ. In addition, articles appeared in Vinum (Zurich), the international wine magazine, and in "l'amateur de BORDEAUX", the internationally acclaimed French wine review. He developed numerous activities about and around wine, in Germany as in France, also in the jury of a competition of German top wines organized by the well-known English wine magazine " Decanter ". He was also a member of the jury in numerous other national, foreign and international wine competitions (e.g. in the small jury made up of professors and wine brokers in the final of the "Coupe des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc" - 1993 - in Bordeaux), moderated wines in front of a larger, expert international audience (for example at the European Wine Festival), was part of the jury in the competition for the best German sommelier in French wines and spirits, gave a lecture on wine in front of a specialist audience and a wider public, and not least worked as a wine expert in TV programs.

He wrote articles for other German wine magazines, also for German and French daily newspapers (e.g. Sud-Ouest), especially with articles about Bordeaux , Burgundy and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (now Mosel) as well as about cognacs .

Last but not least, his person and work as an international wine writer are extensively presented and appreciated in the “Who's Who International du Vin” (Paris). For 16 years he and his wife tested gourmet restaurants for GAULTMILLAU Germany (“The travel guide for connoisseurs”).

Honors

• The Margaux wine-growing community made him an honorary citizen.
• On October 7, 1997, the Saarland government awarded him the title of “Councilor of Justice” in a ceremony in the Ministry of Justice - “in recognition of your services to the administration of justice in our country”.
• In 2012, the General Assembly of the United Volksbank eG appointed him Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
• Also in 2012 the Genossenschaftsverband eV, Frankfurt, awarded him the gold pin of honor "in recognition and appreciation of the cooperative work" after he had already been honored with the silver pin in 2009.

Web links

• Homepage Harald Eckers

Publications

• Bordeaux - wines and châteaux. Verlag Busse + Seewald, Herford 1994, ISBN 3-512-03125-0 .
• The world of wines. The art of tasting. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-7372-5 .
• A shark in the window and other stories. Geistkirch Verlag , Saarbrücken 2013, ISBN 978-3-938889-15-2 .
• Disgraceful. Novel. Geistkirch Verlag, Saarbrücken 2015, ISBN 978-3-938889-63-3 .
• The crux of the matter and other truths , BoD GmbH, ISBN 978-3-7481-4387-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ M. Schmitz: VVB_Beleg. In: Harald Ecker. Retrieved November 4, 2016 .