Helmut Leich

Helmut Leich (born October 14, 1919 in Harpen (Bochum) ; † November 25, 2016 in Bochum ) was a German fossil collector and paleontologist.

Leich was the son of a country pastor who collected archaeological finds himself. Since 1946 he was active as a fossil collector and taxidermist. He studied architecture full-time and worked in the sales department of a company for price labeling devices.

Leich is the founder of the Fossilium im Tierpark und Fossilium Bochum , which opened in 1996 , making him one of the first in Germany to create a connection between the zoological garden and the natural history museum. He brought together an important collection of fossils, especially from the Solnhofen limestone from the Jura, which are presented in the fossilium alongside living animals. He donated 1500 of the approximately 3000 fossils he had prepared in 60 years of collecting to the fossilium. The preparations include a specimen of the bony fish Asthenocormus titanius , coelacanth, osseous scale fish and other fish, bridge lizards , nautiloids, horseshoe crabs , pterosaurs , turtles and pleurosaurus . He also published an illustrated book about his findings.

In 2004 he received the Zittel Medal .

Since 1984 he has been an honorary member of the board of the Bochum Zoo (especially in the aquarium hobby) and was a long-term member of the board of the Bochum Zoo Friends Association.

Fonts

• After millions of years to light. Petrifications of the Jurassic Period, Ott Verlag 1968, 1984
• 150 million years ago: companion to the fossil collection Helmut Leich in the fossilium of the Bochum Zoo, Bochum, approx. 1996

Web links

• Ralf Slabik, Martin Röper: Bochum Zoo mourns Helmut Leich, the founder of the fossil
• Report on Leich in the WAZ, February 12, 2011
• Fossilium