Mainfranken’s economy has lost a formative figure: Dieter Schäfer died on May 31 at the age of 93. This was confirmed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Würzburg-Schweinfurt, whose chief executive Schäfer had been from 1965 to 1993.
The IHK acknowledges that Mainfranken is anchored as an independent economic region between the metropolitan regions of Nuremberg and Frankfurt / Rhein-Main, is largely due to Schäfer. He was particularly committed to transport links, vocational training and the energy supply in the region.
Schäfer’s name is associated with the new construction of the TGZ start-up center in Würzburg (1988) and the commissioning of the training workshops for inter-company training in Würzburg, Bad Neustadt, Haßfurt and Lohr. He was also responsible for moving the IHK headquarters to its current location in the Zellerau district of Würzburg (1990).
What Dieter Schäfer has stood up for
A new IHK training center had been opened there three years earlier. In this sense, Schäfer also campaigned for the qualification of workers to be advanced, according to the IHK. Immediately after German reunification, the managing director was also committed to sponsoring the Würzburg Chamber with the newly emerging IHK Südthüringen in Suhl.
Schäfer was a man of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for his entire professional life. After studying in Mainz and Frankfurt, he went to the chambers in Aschaffenburg and Hamburg, among others, before taking over the management of the IHK in Würzburg in 1965. He stayed there until he retired in 1993.
Schäfer was also active for the University of Würzburg
The economic expert, who has received many awards, has also been a lecturer and honorary professor at the University of Würzburg since the 1970s. According to the IHK, his collection of writings on economic and educational policy, for example, comprises more than 70 works. Schäfer also dealt with the history of Würzburg and Franconia. He also attracted attention with “Treffpunkt Freimann”, his own show on Bavarian television.
“Never satisfied with what has been achieved, always looking for challenges”: This is how today’s IHK managing director Ralf Jahn describes his predecessor.
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