Entrepreneur Reinhold Würth receives Willy Pitzer Award

In his laudatory speech, Dr. Philipp Demandt, Director of Städel Museum and Liebighaus Skulpturensammlung, honored the entrepreneur: “The term hidden champion has become established for large companies manufacturing products that are included in finished products and go easily unnoticed. These companies are nothing less than the backbone of our wealth. However, a backbone, too, remains unnoticed. In fact, you do not start noticing it until it does not work anymore. This is where Reinhold Würth’s social commitment, focused on the future of entrepreneurship, independence and creativity, comes into play: If you rest, you rust. Finally, it is the visible and powerful contribution to a future worth living in that turned Prof. Reinhold Würth from a hidden into a visible champion.”

 The success story of entrepreneur Reinhold Würth

In 1949, Reinhold Würth began a commercial apprenticeship in his father’s screw wholesale business at the request of his father. In 1954, after his father’s sudden death, he took over at the helm of the company with two employees at the age of 19. The company began to expand into international territory in 1962 as the first foreign subsidiary was established in the Netherlands. Today, the Würth Group is the global market leader in the development, production, and sale of assembly and fastening materials. The Würth Group operates worldwide and currently consists of more than 400 companies with more than 2,500 pick-up shops in 80 countries.

The entrepreneur assumes responsibility

Great social commitment is inextricably linked to the entrepreneur Reinhold Würth and his family. According to the statement of Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation, Reinhold Würth has made outstanding contributions especially in the field of the Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation’s purpose of training, education, research and science. Particular highlights of Reinhold Würth’s contributions are Freie Schule Anne-Sophie in Künzelsau and Berlin with more than 1,000 students, the Competence Center for Economic Education in Baden-Württemberg, promoting economic knowledge at schools, the Markus Würth Endowed Professorship for Pediatric Neuro-Orthopedics and Cerebral Palsy at the Technical University of Munich as well as the Tübinger Poetik-Dozentur within the German Seminar of the University of Tübingen. These projects are supported by the charitable Würth Foundation established by Reinhold and his wife Carmen Würth in 1987.

Furthermore, the Würth Foundation and the Würth Group are also committed to the common good in the fields of culture, education, research, social affairs and sports. Five corporate museums and ten art galleries of the Würth Group in Europe showcase the works owned by the Würth Collection, meanwhile comprising around 20,000 exhibits. All of the company’s museums are open to the public free of charge. The establishment of Würth Philharmoniker as the musical ensemble of Reinhold Würth Musikstiftung gGmbH was the result of the Group’s involvement in classical music. In addition, the Würth Group and Würth Foundation are committed to helping people with disabilities. The Würth Group’s main sports sponsorship focus is on soccer and winter sports.

Award of the Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation

The Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation was established in 2001 by Willy Robert Pitzer, a Hessian architect and entrepreneur in the health care sector. Its purpose is to promote the fields of science and research, education and training as well as sports and the welfare for young and elderly people. In the field of medical research, the main focus is on the promotion in the German federal state of Hesse. Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Hesse.

Every year taking turns, the Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation presents the Erika Pitzer and the Willy Pitzer Award. Former award winners include physician and cabaret artist Dr. Eckhard von Hirschhausen and the Frankfurt-based virologist Prof. Dr. Sandra Ciesek.