Actually, when reporting on the list of the richest people in Düsseldorf, you start with the very richest. But for given reasons we want to deviate from this at this point. Instead, this time we're taking the strangest rich combo in town. Ex-BDI President Jürgen Thumann ranks 407th among the richest people in Düsseldorf. What's so strange about that? He is the only super-rich in all of Germany whose wife also appears separately on the list of "Manager Magazin". Because in August 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 in 2015, with an estimated fortune of 20 billion euros, made it the second richest German (behind the BMW major shareholders Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten). Thumann's fortune, on the other hand, 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 Heinrich Weiss, owner of the machine and plant manufacturer SMS Group. In several RP interviews, he emphasized that his industry is in a deep crisis. This is due to overcapacity at steelworks worldwide. He canceled the move of his company to Mönchengladbach because of the difficult economic environment. The turmoil on the steel market has apparently not damaged his fortune. It is estimated at two billion euros, exactly the same as last year. That's enough for place 72.
The family of another person who has a lot to do with Düsseldorf beats Weiss. The Stoschek and Volkmann families, owners of the automotive supplier Brose, are estimated at 2.1 billion euros. A 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 their wealth: Admission is free.
The Schwarz-Schuette family from Düsseldorf (1.8 billion euros), who owned the Monheim-based company Schwarz-Pharma until it was sold, ranks 82nd among the richest Germans. This family also let citizens share in their wealth. When the family sold the company, they gave every employee working there at that time 10,000 euros. The son of the company founder, Patrick Schwarz-Schuette, caused quite a stir when he bought the three-slice house and stylishly renovated it after ThyssenKrupp moved out. In this way, the city was given an outstanding landmark: one of the narrowest skyscrapers in the world.
The Cloppenburg family follows in 127th place. It operates the Peek & Cloppenburg West textile retail chain from Düsseldorf. The family is said to call 1.1 billion euros their own. The next super-rich from Düsseldorf are Uwe and Wolfgang Reppegather with an estimated fortune of 900 million euros - allegedly 100 million more than in the previous year. They own the company Centrum, which operates project developments in many major German cities. Among other things, Düsseldorf has them to thank for the Sevens on Königsallee.
And in the immediate vicinity, the next super-rich in Düsseldorf was doing good business. The architect Walter Brune once designed the Kö-Galerie. His fortune is said to be around 700 million euros, which is 193rd place. The Haubrich family from Düsseldorf, who own Electronic Partner, has the same amount and is therefore in the same place. Arag boss Paul-Otto Faßbender is estimated at half a billion euros (270th place). Düsseldorf's honorary citizen, Trinkau's ex-limited partner Udo van Meeteren is said to have assets 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
