drugstore chain
dm founder Götz Werner is dead
The dm company founder Götz Werner is dead
© Bernd Settnik/ / Picture Alliance
Götz Werner founded a leading drugstore chain with dm. Now he is dead. Throughout his life he was occupied with a topic in which he saw an important contribution to society.
The founder of the drugstore chain dm, Götz Werner, is dead. He died late Tuesday morning at the age of 78, like that company announced in Karlsruhe. His strength had “continuously decreased” in the past few months, his family said.
Christoph Werner, his son and CEO of dm, said his father and exceptional life companion passed away peacefully. He and the family are in deep and silent sorrow.
Götz Werner followed in his father’s footsteps
Götz W. Werner was born in Heidelberg in 1944 as the son of a druggist. His greatest wish was to one day become a druggist himself. He completed an apprenticeship as a druggist and, after completing his training, initially worked in his father’s “Drogerie Werner”. In 1969 he left his hometown of Heidelberg and joined the Karlsruhe company “Drogerie Roth”. In 1973 Werner decided to realize his ideas for a drugstore himself with his dm-drogerie markt.
“His vision of framework conditions that enable people to get involved in the company and find their individual, self-determined path in life gave direction and power to his innovative drive. This is how the working group dm-drogerie markt came into being, which many initially considered unusual was understood as visionary at the time,” writes the company.
His maxim of “permanent, constructive dissatisfaction with the existing conditions” and the resulting will to change the company again and again had a decisive influence on dm’s success. There are now dm stores in 14 European countries and with a turnover of 12.3 billion euros the drugstore chain is the market leader in Europe.
Fighter for unconditional basic income
Since the early 1990s, and even more so after he left operational responsibility for the company in 2008, Werner has devoted his time to the unconditional basic income project. He promoted the idea in lectures and contributions to discussions. Werner saw this as an important social contribution to give people the freedom to take their own initiative and participate in the life of free civil society, even in times of increasing globalization, digitization and automation.
“He was always aware that he would not live to see the completion of this idea,” says the statement about his death. Nevertheless, he committed himself to it with great energy because he recognized it as right and sensible for himself.
Werner also gained a foothold in the academic world. In May 2005, the University of Karlsruhe commissioned him to head the Institute for Entrepreneurship and awarded him the title of professor.