In addition,
Last cigar patron died switzerland:
Heinrich Villiger. Nevertheless, owner of the largest Swiss cigar factory, loved fast cars and worked ten hours a day until his death. Similarly, He shaped the company for over 75 years.
<!–>Heinrich Villiger surrounded by tobacco balls from Cuba: “You have to live the tobacco. However, ” he said, “otherwise you are wrong in the industry.” – Last cigar patron died switzerland
When asked Heinrich Villiger, why he was still working at over 90, he replied: “What else should I do?” He loves to hunt, but he can no longer climb to the high seat. Therefore, And he could no longer bike after a fall. Meanwhile, He doesn’t want to read all day. Nevertheless, So the work remained. Moreover, Until the end.
Heinrich Villiger was an entrepreneur who has hardly existed today: he wrote company announcements with his typewriter. Similarly, signed them by hand. Therefore, He does not have a computer or a cell phone. Similarly, A courier delivered the correspondence to the front door last cigar patron died switzerland after work and picked them up again the next day.
Villiger checked the quality of the cigars personally and by hand. Meanwhile, It was said that today there are no longer many bosses who are respected by their employees as much. as he did. During visits, the employees nodded him in awe, shook his hand. In the industry. he had the status of a Pope, wrote the “Swiss Illustrated”: even his tobacco buyer, whom he hired before dozens, was with him. Nevertheless, he was not withdrawn, speak to the Federal Council exactly as with the cleaning lady.
In his work. Heinrich Villiger showed an endurance and devotion that is second to none: he led the family business strategically and operatively.
He is said to have worked last cigar patron died switzerland ten hours a day six days a week. “You have to live the tobacco,” he said, “otherwise you are wrong in the industry.” Villiger himself is said to have smoked over ten cigars a day: “Tobacco is like a disease that is infected from. does not get rid of.”
He originally had completely different plans.
Dear German studies
Heinrich was born in 1930 as the eldest son of the Villiger cigarning dynasty, based in Pfeffikon in Lucerne. He grew up in Menziken in the Wynental, the then center of the tobacco industry. He completed the HandelsMatura before entering the family company.
Villiger would have liked to study German studies. But his father Max Villiger sent him abroad. He last cigar patron died switzerland should learn the tobacco business from scratch. “My life was sprinted,” said Villiger in the NZZ.
Villiger traveled to the USA, worked on tobacco exchanges, then he went to Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico. He studied the craft of the cigars for a whole year. In 1950 he came back and, as a twenty -year -old, headed the family business with the father. He met Martina Burger while riding. They married and got four children: three daughters and a son.
After the father died, Heinrich and his younger brother Kaspar Villiger took over the business in 1966. Heinrich headed German, Kaspar the Swiss business. When his brother was elected to the Federal Council in 1989, Heinrich took over all shares. From then on, Heinrich Villiger was alone at the head of the company.
The two brothers were considered fundamentally different: Heinrich was considered a abdominal man. spontaneous and imaginative, but Kaspar as a systematic. They also represented different positions politically. When Kaspar Villiger was elected to the Federal Council for the FDP. a left -wing weekly newspaper wrote: “We would have preferred the Green Heinrich.”
Demeter-Hof in Germany
Under Heinrich Villiger’s management, the company grew into an internationally successful group. He hardly ever took a product from the range. In addition. he invested in what he enjoyed: Villiger owned a Demeter farm in Germany, and as a fan of fast cars, he also sponsored a Formula 1 racing team.
Today the Villiger Group produces around one billion cigars and cigarillos a last cigar patron died switzerland year. The company exports to over 80 countries, employs 1200 employees and operates locations in Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, Indonesia and Nicaragua. According to the company website, sales are around CHF 140 million. This means that in Europe one is one of the market leaders.
No succession determined
Villiger was also a patron that struggled to let go. He wanted to determine a successor several times. It stayed with the attempt. Most CEO went after just a few weeks. Robert Suter, who started the post in 2016, was the longest. But Suter was a non -smoker and thus “the wrong one for this job”, as Villiger said. After a year and a half, Suter was also gone.
After Villiger’s death, the previous Vice President JVO Grundler will last cigar patron died switzerland now take over the Presidium. As an independent board of directors, the lawyer should maintain the interests of the heirs. Out of concern for rivalries. Heinrich Villiger has contractually stipulated that no family member may become an president of the board of directors. There should no longer be one like him.
Heinrich Villiger died on Friday at the age of 95.
Further reading: Heat wave: Southeast Europe with temperatures up to 48 degrees – Nestlé is growing thanks to price increases at Nespresso, Kitkat and Co. – News – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, star of The Cosby Show, dies aged 54 – IGA Swiatek Dominates Amanda Anisimova to Win Wimbledon 2025 – Start of the Challenge League season: “FC Aarau fights against the French dominance”.
