Edzard Reuter (born February 16, 1928) was the
CEO of
Daimler-Benz from 1987 to 1995.
Edzard Reuter was born in
Berlin, his father was the popular
social democratic politician and
mayor of
Berlin from 1948 to 1953,
Ernst Reuter. His mother Hanna Reuter née Kleinert was a secretary at the party newspaper
Vorwärts. After the
Machtergreifung of the
NSDAP, the family was forced to flee
Germany and they found
exile in
Ankara,
Turkey. So Reuter spent much of his childhood in Turkey. In 1946, Edzard joined the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
After returning to Germany in 1947, Edzard Reuter studied
mathematics and
theoretical physics at the
University of Berlin (now known as
Humboldt University of Berlin), later transferring to the
Georg August University of Göttingen. In 1949, he switched over to studying
law at the newly founded
Free University of Berlin. In 1955, Reuter completed his state examinations. From 1954 to 1956, he was an assistant at the university. After applying for a job for Daimler-Benz and failing, Edzard Reuter became confidential clerk for
UFA, the German
film studio and then an executive for the
Bertelsmann, a media corporation.
In 1964,
Hanns Martin Schleyer recruited Reuter to work at the Daimler-Benz headquarters in
Stuttgart, where he advance all the way to the board of managers. In July 1987, he succeeded
Werner Breitschwerdt as chairman of the board upon recommendation of
Alfred Herrhausen. Upon his assumption of office Reuter avowed himself to...
Read More