20 July 2012

Bürkert mourns the death of Dorothee Bürkert

The Stuttgart-born trained pharmacist was in charge of the Bürkert group's safeguarding and future ever since the death of her husband Christian Bürkert in October 1971. Together with the shareholder family, she carried on her husband's life's work and accompanied Bürkert's development into a globally operating company, which today employs around 2,400 people. In doing so, her main focus was always the well-being of the employees and their families, the protection and creation of jobs as well as the training, advancement and further education of the staff. All this was supported by her strong commitment to Germany as a production hub and to securing the independence of the company.

Promoting social and cultural projects in the Hohenlohe region and beyond was a matter very close to the heart for Dorothee Bürkert. As early as 1987 she established the "Christian Bürkert Trust" for the promotion of training and further education as well as social causes. In connection with her responsible behaviour and reflections about safeguarding the future of Bürkert, Dorothee Bürkert has furthermore made sure that a foundation model was created with which the independence of the Bürkert group could be secured beyond her lifetime. 

For her multi-faceted commitment Dorothee Bürkert was honoured with the appointment as honorary senator of Heilbronn University, honorary citizenship of the town of Ingelfingen as well as the medal of merit of Baden-Württemberg.  However, with such distinctions Dorothee Bürkert never referred back to herself, but viewed them as recognition of the Bürkert people's work as well as the life's work of her husband. The name Dorothee Bürkert stands for humanity, humility, long-sighted responsible entrepreneurship and social commitment. She will be sorely missed.