Policymakers and Public Remember Reinhard Mohn

Chancellor Angela Merkel:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the late Bertelsmann Group leader as an outstanding entrepreneur, saying he created a global brand and made a lasting impact in past decades on life in the Federal Republic of Germany. According to Thomas Steg, deputy spokesman for the German government, Merkel will speak personally with Liz Mohn, widow of the business leader, to express her sadness and condolences.

Culture Minister Bernd Neumann:
German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann expressed his condolences on the death of Reinhard Mohn. Speaking on behalf of the German chancellor, Neumann said, “Reinhard Mohn combined his legendary success as a media entrepreneur with exemplary efforts in the area of culture, social affairs and civic engagement. His exceptional life’s work will continue on in the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the foundation he established. We are very sad to lose such an outstanding public figure, one that made such a decisive contribution to Germany’s economic and social recovery in the post-war period.” 

Jürgen Rüttgers, premier of the state of North Rhine–Westphalia:
“Reinhard Mohn was a great entrepreneur. He was also a great man. North Rhine-Westphalia is much in his debt. From small beginnings he built one of the globe’s largest media conglomerates, providing many people with work and a livelihood. Yet he was also a visionary. He did not care about share prices, but about his employees. He wanted to be the leader of a company that appreciated each employee’s individual talents. He founded the Bertelsmann Stiftung, which in turn produced new ideas for creating a better society. We will remember Reinhard Mohn with gratitude.”  

Guido Westerwelle, chairman of the Free Democratic Party:
“With Reinhard Mohn Germany has lost a seminal publisher and an extraordinary entrepreneur, one who made an extraordinary contribution to our country’s sociopolitical cohesiveness. He remains an example of the inherent connection between corporate success and social responsibility. Our thoughts and feelings go out to his family, especially his wife and children.”  

Germany’s newspaper publishers express their condolences
Hubert Burda, president of VDZ, the national association of newspaper and magazine publishers, said, “Reinhard Mohn was one of the most modern business leaders in the post-war era. Like few others, he combined corporate success with social responsibility and as a thought leader played a key role in helping re-establish democracy in Germany following the war. We are greatly in his debt.”

Gütersloh Mayor Maria Unger:
“The city of Gütersloh mourns the passing of its son and honorary citizen, Reinhard Mohn. His extraordinary success as a business leader and his influential sociopolitical ideas and efforts have left their mark not only on Gütersloh and its environs, but on Germany and the world as well. He will remain in our memory not only as an entrepreneur and thinker, but also as a man to whom the common good was of critical importance, one whose civic engagement remains exemplary. As a philanthropist and donor, his support played a decisive role in the development of the city of Gütersloh. His ideas for promoting communal life were incisive and he worked unwaveringly to help turn them into reality. We, the citizens of Gütersloh, are greatly in his debt and will remember him always. Our condolences go out to his wife, his children and their families.”