Kurt Ruths
Kurt Ruths (born February 22, 1927 in Frankfurt am Main ; † August 9, 1997 ) was a German chemist and entrepreneur .
Life
Kurt Ruths was born in Frankfurt in 1927 as the son of Heinrich Ruths and Lisa Katharina Horter. He went to primary school in Frankfurt and from 1937 attended the Falk Middle School for two years. After the 6th grade he switched to the Liebig-Gymnasium in Frankfurt. From February 1943 to August 1944 he was used as an Air Force helper. In September 1944 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. After serving in the Second World War and being imprisoned for six months in Bad Kreuznach , he attended a high school diploma course for those who participated in the war and passed the final examination on June 19, 1946. From the winter semester 1946/47 he studied chemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In the first semester, he had to do a reconstruction work in the removal of rubble for the University of Frankfurt over two days. He completed the diploma examination in the winter semester of 1952/53. In 1954 Kurt Ruths completed his doctorate with P. Royen and A. Magnus with a thesis on the topic: Investigations into the condition and size of the surfaces of iron (III) oxide and nickel (II) oxide and their changes during sintering and reduction.
His first job was in the research and development department of Farbwerke Hoechst AG . Here he dealt in particular with issues of operational and industrial development. Rudolf Braas , the founder of the company of the same name, Braas & Co GmbH , founded in 1953 , brought his son-in-law Kurt Ruths into the company as head of production in 1959. At that time, the company only comprised the Dachstein factories in Heusenstamm, Monheim and Stemwarde; it employed around 500 people with sales of DM 20 million.
Kurt Ruths came to Braas at a time when the company was going through a stormy pioneering and growth phase. As head of the technology department, Ruths played a key role in this development. In 1964 Kurt Ruths was appointed managing director for technology as a member of the management. In this role, from 1970 onwards, he expanded the Braas range, in particular to include plastics for the building industry. After Rudolf H. Braas left the company, Kurt Ruths was appointed spokesman for the management in January 1975. He has also been a member of the board of the UK's main shareholder Redland Plc since mid-1975. With his humble and human nature as well as his team-oriented management style, Ruths has shaped the Braas corporate culture as an exemplary role model.
In his new role as management spokesman, Kurt Ruths faced major challenges: in post-war Germany the volume of new buildings was halved and competition intensified due to the entry of new providers. Even in this environment, the company was able to expand its business volume by a third in real terms during Ruths' twelve-year tenure at the helm, further increasing the return on sales and increasing the number of jobs through expansion worldwide from 4,000 to 5,000.
Ruths initially promoted the company's growth in Western Europe (including the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Italy). But the group of companies was also active in Eastern Europe as early as the 1980s. A roof tile factory was opened in the People's Republic of Hungary as early as 1985, thus laying an important foundation stone for the group's expansion after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s. In addition to regional diversification, the business with new, innovative plastic products, especially for roofs, was also significantly expanded by sector.
In 1987 Kurt Ruths retired from active service due to old age and took over the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board of Braas, which he held until 1992. He was succeeded as Chairman of the Management Board by N. Erich Gerlach, with whom Kurt Ruths had worked closely since 1967. The Braas company, managed by Kurt Ruths, has meanwhile become a world market leader in roofing materials for pitched roofs and chimney systems, today's Braas Monier Building Group .
Kurt Ruths had been with Anna Ruths born in November 1954. Braas married. The marriage resulted in their son Harald (* 1957) and daughter Andrea (* 1962).
Honors
On the occasion of Kurth Ruths' departure from the Braas management, the company donated the “Kurth Ruths Prize” to the Technical University of Darmstadt in February 1987 . The chairman of the Braas supervisory board, Sir Colin Corness , chairman and CEO of the majority shareholder Redland Plc., Presented the deed of foundation to Kurt Ruths with the following words: “In order to commemorate your outstanding leadership qualities and especially your technical merits, the shareholders and the management jointly decided to offer an annual prize to be awarded at the Technical University of Darmstadt on your behalf ". Kurt Ruths replied in his typical humorous way: "When I joined Braas at the latest, I left the race for the Nobel Prize, but seriously, this prize is a really very worthy equivalent". The Kurt Ruths Prize is awarded annually to outstanding theses in the fields of chemistry, civil engineering or architecture with prize money of 20,000 euros.
After several changes of shareholders in the former Braas Group, the company no longer continued this foundation. It is thanks to the Ruths family, especially the children of Kurt Ruths, that they have taken on the responsibility for the foundation and that the prize can continue to be awarded.
literature
- Hermann Hechler: Kurth Ruths, an entrepreneur who knew how to motivate and promote . In: TUD intern, No. 6, 1997, p. 4.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Archiv , August 15, 1997
- ^ The Kurt Ruths Prize at the TU Darmstadt
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ruths, Kurt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chemist and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 22, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankfurt am Main |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 9, 1997 |
| Place of death | Frankfurt am Main |