Irmgard Spiess

Irmgard Spiess (born August 31, 1898 in Wesel as Irmgard Hogrefe ; † January 28, 1999 in Kleinkarlbach ) was a German entrepreneur .

Life

Born in Wesel in 1898, Irmgard Hogrefe went to Heidelberg to study chemistry at the age of 18 after graduating from high school . In 1921 she did her doctorate summa cum laude with Emil Knoevenagel and was the first woman to receive a scientific assistant position at the chemical institute of Heidelberg University . She then worked in the patent department of BASF in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

In 1923 she married Dr. Paul Spiess. They moved to Kleinkarlbach, where the Spiess family owned a paint and varnish factory . The company was founded in 1861 by Carl Friedrich Spiess as an "earth color business". The impetus for this was provided by Justus von Liebig , to whose niece the founder was married. After the birth of her sons Dieter and Wolfram, Irmgard Spiess returned to work in 1927. Together with her husband, she developed a new branch of the company: the production of pest control and crop protection products, especially for combating Colorado beetles . Several of their inventions have been patented. She took over the management after her husband had been called up for military service in 1939. After his release from captivity until his death (1963), they ran the company together. Afterwards she led the Spiess group together with her sons until shortly before her death at the age of 100. Irmgard Spiess saw herself as a Palatine with a Prussian influence. In times of crisis she used the motto: "When God slams a door, he opens a window elsewhere."

Irmgard Spiess held numerous offices outside of the company: in 1968 she became the first woman to become a member of the general assembly of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the Palatinate in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . From 1951 to 1979 she was a member of the advisory board of the Agricultural Industry Association.

Honors

For her services to the development of the Palatinate economy and in recognition of her voluntary work, she received the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1963 and the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1973. In the same year Kleinkarlbach made her an honorary citizen . In 1998 Kurt Beck awarded her the Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate .

literature

• Gert Oberste-Lehn: Company legend from Kleinkarlbach. Dr. Irmgard Spiess. “La grande Dame” of the Palatinate economy . In: Heimat-Jahrbuch 2001 in the Bad Dürkheim district . ISBN 3-926775-25-4
• Viktor Carl: Lexicon of the Palatinate personalities . 2nd revised and expanded edition, Hennig, Edenkoben 1998