Würth Company
Reinhold Würth, who was born in 1935, joined his father's wholesale screw business in Künzelsau as second employee and first trainee in 1949. In 1952, he successfully completed his traineeship to become a wholesale and retail salesman. At the age of 19, after the early death of his father in 1954, Reinhold Würth took over the company management. In the following decades, he turned the regional business into a worldwide acting trading company.
In 1994, Reinhold Würth withdrew from the operative business and assumed the chair of the Advisory Board of the Würth Group. His daugther Bettina Würth took over this position in 2006. Reinhold Würth remains Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group's Family Trusts.
Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth with Sir Anthony Caro
His entrepreneurial performance as well as his special social and cultural commitment have generally been recognized by numerous honors and memberships. Until the end of the summer semester of 2003, Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth was the director of the Inter-faculty Institute for Entrepreneurship at the University of Karlsruhe. He is a doctor and senator honoris causa of the University of Tübingen, a bearer of the Great Distinguished Service Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and of the Medal of the Economy and the Service Medal of the Land of Baden-Württemberg. In 1997, he was furthermore given the freedom of the town of Erstein (France). In April 2003, the freedom of the town of Künzelsau was bestowed on Reinhold Würth and his wife Carmen for their social and cultural commitment. In 2014, the freedom of the town of Schwäbisch Hall followed.
As an honor for his special merits and his extraordinary commitment to the spreading and conveying of French art Reinhold Würth was made Knight of the Legion of Honor in March 2004. In April 2004, the Ludwig Erhard Foundation in Bonn presented the Ludwig Erhard Medal to Reinhold Würth for the special service he had rendered to the social market economy. In May 2004, he joined the Business Hall of Fame (on the initiative of the manager magazine and the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn). In June 2004, Reinhold Würth was awarded the German Founder's Prize for his life's work. The German Founder's Prize is awarded once a year by StartUp and its partners stern, Sparkassen, McKinsey & Company and the TV channel ZDF. It honors enterprises in different stages of their successful existence - from concepts up to lifeworks. For his manifold cultural activities in Palermo the entrepreneur was awarded an honorary doctorate in art history and museography by the University of Palermo, in May 2007.
Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, and Reinhold Würth in Johanniterkirche in Schwäbisch Hall, 2012
In his professional career, Reinhold Würth has intensively dealt with psychological subjects such as the motivation of employees, management culture and questions of professional ethics. He also spent a lot of time on cultural questions. The purchase of a watercolor painting by Emil Nolde in the 1970s marked the beginning of his passion for collecting works of art. Art has meanwhile become an important part of the corporate culture, and the activities of the Würth Group in this area are a clear commitment to its social responsibility. Today, the Würth Collection consists of about 20,000 works of art, which are made accessible to the employees of the company and the public at the museums of the Würth Group (Kunsthalle Würth, Johanniterkirche, Museum Würth, Museum Würth 2, Hirschwirtscheuer, as well as the associated galleries).
Wege der Kunst – Ein Dokumentarfilm über den Kunstsammler Reinhold Würth
The complete documentary Wege der Kunst - Ein Dokumentarfilm über den Kunstsammler Reinhold Würth (GER) can be viewed free of charge via the ORF2 - digital library.
