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In silent mourning |
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We mourn the loss of our company founder Mr Bruno Grieshaber, who died after a short, serious illness on October 7th, 2005. Although he assigned active management to his son Jürgen Grieshaber already in 1994, he was in the company almost daily until shortly before his death.
We have lost a great personage, one that has certainly left its impression on all of us. Inventiveness, determination and an enormous sense of responsibility are the attributes of a man who accomplished outstanding things in his 86 years of life.
Born on September 16th, 1919 in Triberg, Bruno Grieshaber was only a few weeks old when he moved to Wolfach with his parents and the company owned by his parents, Gebrüder Grieshaber oHG. After completing his training as toolmaker and bank clerk as well as his studies at the commercial college in Hamburg, he was called to the navy in 1940.
On returning from war captivity in Canada in 1945, he found the paternal company in Wolfach almost 90 % dismantled by the victorious allies. Together with his father and his cousins Ernst and Albin Grieshaber, he began rebuilding the metal working factory. At the 50th anniversary of Gebrüder Grieshaber oHG, Bruno Grieshaber was appointed to the executive board in 1953.
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To the farsighted businessman Bruno Grieshaber, it was clear already in the 1950s that electronics would play a decisive role in the lives of future generations. Bruno Grieshaber took the first steps to enter the electronics industry by producing the bicycle radio Veloton, a tube radio known under the brand name AJA, and by becoming a contract manufacturer of amplifiers for DUAL record players. The crucial step came in 1959 with the founding of VEGA. In those days, level measurement technology was in an infant stage. Although transistors had already been invented, they were too expensive and not widely available. The first capacitive limit switches were still built with tube technology. But unlike those of the competition, they already worked without special cable. Four years later, the transistor found its way into level measurement technology at VEGA. In 1964 VEGA registered "current-oriented measurement" for patent. This was the first VEGA patent. Innumerable patents and innovations followed, shaping VEGA continually from time of its establishment.
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Things quickly got too cramped for VEGA, at that time still located in Wolfach. In 1974, Bruno Grieshaber purchased the buildings of the former Karlin cloth factory in Schiltach. VEGA, with already 100 employees, carries out its relocation a year later. New buildings went up one after the other. Bruno Grieshaber was an architect, tinkerer and brilliant organizer. The vision of Bruno Grieshaber proved true, and meanwhile the enterprise is a world leader in the area of radar level measurement. Today VEGA employs 850 people worldwide, 440 of which are at the company headquarters in Schiltach. Among the 50 agencies worldwide there are ten subsidiaries in Europe, South Africa, Australia and Singapore as well as two associated companies in the USA and China.
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Out of great interest in holistic medicine and the positive experiences he had in this area, Bruno Grieshaber founded in1979 a second line of business, VEGA Medical Devices. To promote research and further education in holistic medicine, Bruno Grieshaber 1991 brought the Grieshaber Academy into being. Three years later, the naturopathic-oriented Grieshaber Health Institute was opened.
As a person who loved nature, Bruno Grieshaber got involved in all areas of environment protection. Over the years, he fashioned VEGA in accordance with his idea of a clean industrial enterprise. In1997, he invested in the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the river Kinzig to provide electricity. His company was certified acc. to the globally recognized environmental norm ISO 14001 in the year 2001.
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For his life's work and engagement, Bruno Grieshaber was honoured with numerous awards and accolades. He received the Federal Cross of Merit in 1985. For his great entrepreneurial accomplishments, the state of Baden-Wurttemberg awarded him its Commerce Medal of Honour in1988. In the following year, VEGA was awarded the UNESCO prize for international promotion of industry, the “Prix de Promotion Internationale de l’Industrie”. This prize honours VEGA’s merits in the field of industry in the same way it honoured enterprises like IBM, Porsche or the Max Planck Institute. Also in 1989 the Volksbank Oberes Kinzigtal honoured Bruno Grieshaber's approx. 30-year tenure on its supervisory board with the Schultze Delitzsch badge.
In 1990, Bruno Grieshaber was appointed honorary member of BERIAR (Italian doctors’ association for research and distribution of functional and bioenergetic medicine) .
From the town of Schiltach he received in 2001 the distinction of “Honorary Citizen”.
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In the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bruno Grieshaber rendered outstanding services for a long time in the area of apprentice training and for more than 20 years was head of the board of examiners of industrial clerks. Over many years he belonged to the Trade Association of Industrial Enterprises in Baden, serving as advisor and member of the board. He was active in the controlling bodies of the AOK and as judge in the Social Affairs Court always endeavoured to adjudicate conflicting interests with wisdom and tolerance.
We say goodbye to a truly great personality.
His life's work obliges us to take over and continue it successfully.
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