When reporting on the list of the richest Düsseldorfers, one usually starts with the very richest. But given the occasion, we would like to deviate from this at this point. Instead, this time we will take the city's most curious rich combo. Ex-BDI President Jürgen Thumann is the 407th richest person in Düsseldorf. What's so curious about that? He is the only super-rich person in the whole of Germany whose wife also appears separately on the "Manager Magazin" list. That's because in August of last year, he married Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, the owner of Schaeffler AG, who incidentally also has the same birthday as her husband. Schaeffler is also the majority owner of Continental and, with an estimated fortune of 20 billion euros, made it into second place among the richest Germans in 2015 (behind BMW major shareholders Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten). In comparison, the fortune of Thumann, who lives in an apartment on Königsallee, seems almost tiny at around 300 million euros.
As in the previous year, the richest person in Düsseldorf is also Heinrich Weiss, owner of the SMS Group, a machine and plant manufacturer. He emphasized in several RP interviews that his industry is in a deep crisis. This, he said, was due to an overcapacity of steel mills worldwide. He unceremoniously canceled the relocation of his company to Mönchengladbach because of the difficult economic environment. The turmoil on the steel market has apparently not yet damaged his fortune. It is estimated at two billion euros, exactly the same as last year. That's enough for 72nd place.
However, the family of another person who has a lot to do with Düsseldorf tops Weiss. The Stoschek and Volkmann families, owners of the automotive supplier Brose, are estimated to be worth 2.1 billion euros. One scion of the family, Julia Stoschek, collects contemporary art and has her own museum on Schanzenstrasse. And so the people of Düsseldorf also benefit from her wealth: admission is free.
In 82nd place among the richest Germans is the Düsseldorf-based Schwarz-Schütte family (1.8 billion euros), who owned the Monheim-based Schwarz-Pharma company until it was sold. This family also let citizens share in their wealth. When the family sold the company, it gave 10,000 euros to each employee working there at the time. Most recently, the son of the company's founder, Patrick Schwarz-Schütte, caused a stir when he bought the Dreischeibenhaus and stylishly renovated it after ThyssenKrupp moved out. This preserved an outstanding landmark for the city: one of the world's narrowest skyscrapers.
It is followed in 127th place by the Cloppenburg family. It operates the textile retail chain Peek & Cloppenburg West from Düsseldorf. The family is said to be worth 1.1 billion euros. The next super-rich from Düsseldorf are Uwe and Wolfgang Reppegather with an estimated 900 million euros in assets - reportedly 100 million more than last year. They own the company Centrum, which operates project developments in many major German cities. Düsseldorf has them to thank for the Sevens on Königsallee, among other things.
And in the immediate vicinity, the next Düsseldorf super-rich person was doing good business. The architect Walter Brune once designed the Kö-Galerie. His fortune is said to be 700 million euros, which puts him in 193rd place. With the same sum and therefore in the same place is the Düsseldorf Haubrich family, who own Electronic Partner. Arag boss Paul-Otto Faßbender is estimated to be worth half a billion euros (270th place). Düsseldorf's honorary citizen, Trinkaus' former limited partner Udo van Meeteren is said to have a fortune of 400 million euros. That leaves Roger Klüh and his father Josef Klüh, owner of the service company of the same name, with 300 million euros (407th place).
Source: RP Online
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