01/05/2024 09:24 (current 01/05/2024 09:24)
The founder of ophthalmologist Fielmann, Günther Fielmann, has passed away ©APA (dpa)
Businessman Günther Fielmann has died The founder of the German optical chain with the same name died on Wednesday, aged 84, in his hometown, Lütjensee, in Schleswig-Holstein, as announced by the Fielmann Group on Friday. He fell asleep peacefully surrounded by his family.
“The thoughts of our more than 23,000 employees in Europe, Asia and the USA are with Günther Fielmann's relatives today. Our sincere condolences and deep sympathy go out to his family, friends and associates. Günther Fielmann will thank us all with his customer-oriented approach for philosophy, his creativity and visionary spirit will be remembered as a pioneer of ophthalmic optics,” he continued.
Fielmann changed the eyewear business in Germany. There is now a branch of its optical network in almost every pedestrian zone. Fielmann AG had a total of 977 branches at home and abroad, more than 22,000 employees and 27 million customers at the end of March 2023. Annual sales were most recently (2022) almost 1.8 billion euros.
Fielmann left the company in 2019 and handed it over to his son Marc. In addition to his business success, Fielmann worked as an organic farmer. Fielmann also purchased and renovated Plön Castle; Ophthalmologists are trained there for the entire industry. Fielmann donated a lot to education, science and culture, ecology and nature conservation. He gave his employees shares in the company and planted a tree for each of them every year.
Fielmann Group Supervisory Board Chairman Mark Binz paid tribute to the deceased as a “businessman and visionary of the century. With strategic vision, a clear focus on customers' desires and an exemplary commitment to the common good, he influenced the German economy far beyond the limits of ocular optics and auditory acoustics.