Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Mourns Hans Joachim Langmann

• Corrected: Date of the Presidency of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI)

Professor Hans Joachim Langmann, former Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, died on February 6, 2021 at the age of 96.

Hans Joachim Langmann had been a representative of the  family since 1961, having been elected by the partners. In 1965, he assumed Executive Board responsibility for the Finance function. Langmann served as Chairman of the Executive Board for a total of 30 years, from 1970 to 2000.

“Advancing and transforming our company was Hans Joachim Langmann’s ambition during the four decades in which he held responsibility for it. He accomplished this with a great vision and tremendous passion, thus setting the course for the long-term success of our company in so many ways,” said Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of the Family Board and of the Executive Board of E. Merck KG, Darmstadt, Germany.

During his tenure as Chairman of the Executive Board, Langmann transformed the company into an increasingly international and globally recognized corporation. He “shaped a timid medium-sized enterprise into a corporate group of global stature,” wrote “Manager Magazin” in 2007 on the occasion of his induction into the Hall of Fame of German Business.

At the end of 1995, the public listing of the company took place under his leadership. Today, more than a quarter of a century later, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is among Germany’s most successful constituents of the DAX 30 index of blue-chip companies.

Hans Joachim Langmann took on social responsibility from 1974 to 1980 as President of the Darmstadt Chamber of Industry and Commerce, from 1974 to 1975 as President of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) and from 1985 to 1986 as President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). He received several awards for his achievements, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal.

Born in Mecklenburg, Hans Joachim Langmann spent a large part of his childhood and youth first in Guatemala and later in Uruguay. He studied Physics, earned a doctorate and gave up a promising scientific career as a nuclear physicist to dedicate himself to the company. He was married to Dr. Marlis Groos, the great-great granddaughter of Emanuel Merck, and had three daughters.