Konrad Henkel

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Konrad Henkel (around 1975)

Konrad Henkel (born October 25, 1915 in Düsseldorf ; † April 24, 1999 there ) was a German industrialist and long-time head of the Henkel Group and chemist .

Life

The grandfather of Konrad Henkel, who was born in 1915, was Fritz Henkel (1848–1930), who founded the detergent factory Henkel & Cie in Aachen in 1876 (company headquarters in Düsseldorf since 1878). Konrad Henkel was born as the second son of Hugo Henkel and Gerda Henkel. Konrad Henkel graduated from high school in Düsseldorf and then studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich . He then moved to the Technical University of Braunschweig and later to the Technical University of Karlsruhe , where he received his doctorate in 1939.

Between 1939 and 1945 he was employed at what was then the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg , where he did research with Richard Kuhn on poison gases (co-discoverer of Soman ). In 1948 he joined the Henkel company as a chemist in product development. From 1949 to 1956 Konrad Henkel was head of product development at Henkel and finally became a member of the management in 1956.

After the early death of his brother Jost in 1961, Konrad Henkel became chairman of the company's management, which he then converted into a KGaA in 1975 . In 1980 Konrad Henkel left the company management and moved to the Supervisory Board , which he chaired between 1980 and 1990. He handed over the chairmanship of the management to Helmut Sihler, the first non-family manager to head the company. Between 1976 and 1990 Konrad Henkel was also Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee of Henkel KGaA, and from 1990 to 1999 Honorary Chairman of the Henkel Group. During his time as Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee and the Supervisory Board, the company went public in 1985. Konrad Henkel died in 1999 at the age of 83 in his home town of Düsseldorf.

From 1972 to 1973 Henkel was President of the Chemical Industry Association (VCI) , from 1967 to 1990 Chairman of the Düsseldorf Industry Club and from 1982 to 1991 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Degussa AG .

Konrad Henkel was involved in a party donation affair in the 1980s. He was accused of donating 4.22 million marks to the CDU / CSU and FDP and thus evading 1.896 million marks in taxes. The Bonn public prosecutor's office issued a penalty order for 3.5 million marks, which Henkel contradicted. As a result, legal proceedings against him were initiated at the end of 1988 . These proceedings were discontinued in January 1990 because of formal errors in the penalty order.

Henkel received many honors, including a. the honorary citizenship of the City of Dusseldorf in 1976, the Great Golden Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1978, the Great Cross of Merit in 1980, the Wilhelm Normann Medal of the German Society for Fat Science in 1985 and the Great Cross of Merit with Star 1995. The AudiMax Heinrich -Heine University in Düsseldorf is named after him. In 1986 the Konrad Henkel Foundation was established.

Konrad Henkel had three daughters Andrea, Renate and Karin from his first marriage and from his second marriage (1955) with his wife Gabriele Henkel the son Christoph Henkel , who inherited his company shares.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florian Schmaltz: Neurosciences and research on chemical weapons of mass destruction in Nazi Germany . In: Journal of the History of the Neurosciences . 15, No. 3, September 2006, ISSN  0964-704X , pp. 186-209. doi : 10.1080 / 09647040600658229 . PMID 16887760 .
  2. ^ A b Jürgen H. Wintermann: Entrepreneur Konrad Henkel has died. In: Welt Online . April 26, 1999.
  3. ↑ Katy Hillmann: Family Henkel - billions with megaperls. In: Spiegel Online . March 17, 2001.
  4. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB).
  5. ^ Mourning for Dr. Konrad Henkel. Henkel CEE press release. April 25, 1999.
  6. ^ Stefan Weber: Henkel: Simone Bagel-Trah - The first female boss of German supervisory boards. In: Süddeutsche.de . 17th September 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Henkel, Konrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German industrialist, longtime head of the Henkel group and chemist
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1999
Place of death Dusseldorf