Gerhard Weber (3 June 194124 September 2020) was a German fashion designer and entrepreneur, who founded Gerry Weber, a fashion manufacturer and retailer in Halle,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. He signed tennis player

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

for public relations before her international success. He was the founder of the

Halle Open The Halle Open is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the ATP Tour schedule. Between 1993 and 2018 ...

, a tennis tournament on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...

Life and career

Weber was born in Halle,

, where his mother ran a shop selling stationery, wool and clothing. In his early life, he worked at his mother's shop and came into contact with the fashion industry. After school, he attended the Höhere Handelsschule vocational school and trained to be a textile merchant. He first worked in a textile factory, post which he opened a fashion shop in

Versmold Versmold (; wep, Vassem) is a town in Gütersloh District in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located some 30 km west of Bielefeld. History In 1096 Versmold was first mentioned in a document, and is thus one of the oldes ...

in 1965. In 1973, he founded the company Hatex AG in Halle with his friend Udo Hardieck. The company specialized in trousers for women, before branching out to full-range women's fashion in the early 1980s. The company was renamed Gerry Weber International AG in 1986, and stylized as Gerry Weber. In 1986, Weber went on to sign tennis player

at age 17 before her international success, to be an ambassador for the Gerry Weber brand in a move considered to be a marketing coup. The company was listed on the

Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Locat ...

in 1989, with the family as the largest stockholder. Weber retired from his post as chief executive in 2014 and was succeeded by his son. He remained on the supervisory board until 2018. The company faced challenges from low-cost providers as well as declining interest from younger customers. In 2019, the family lost all influence on the company which was taken over by investors.

Sports

Weber, a golf player, organized an

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

event in 1992, a clay court event at the tennis club in Halle. The following year, this event became the

and was held on grass court at the

Gerry Weber Stadion OWL Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena, indoor sports arena, located in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The capacity of the arena is 12,300 people and it opened in 1993. It hosts the Halle Open every year in June. It is one of the f ...

(now OWL Arena) that he helped build in 1992. He was also the president of the TC Blau-Weiss club, which became one of Germany's most successful tennis clubs. The Gerry Weber Stadion has been used for cultural and community events, including concerts by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

and

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

. He also supported the soccer club

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

from 2017.

Private life

Weber was married to Charlotte Weber, and the couple had two sons. Weber died on 24 September 2020 in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

at the age of 79.

Awards

Weber's awards include: * 1996: Internationaler Mode-Marketing-Preis from

Igedo Igedo (Igedo Company GmbH & Co. KG) is an organiser of fashion fairs and shows established in 1949 and located in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The acronym abbreviates "Interessengemeinschaft Damenoberbekleidung", in English "Commun ...

* 1997: ''Unternehmer des Jahres'' 1996 Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) * 2002: Marketingpreis of Verkaufsleiter-Club Ostwestfalen * 2011: ' magazine, award for life achievements * 2012: Sozial-Oscar of the

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

foundation * 2013: ''Bester Modehändler Deutschlands''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Gerhard 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople German company founders German fashion designers People from Halle (Westfalen) 1941 births 2020 deaths