Hans Imhoff (March 12, 1922 – December 21, 2007) was a German chocolate producer and founder of the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff Chocolate Museum) in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany.Official Website of the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum Cologne
Imhoff was born in Cologne to Franz and Charotte Imhoff (née Gallé). After leaving Elementary School he then joined a Trade School, where he trained in Commercial and Vocational Studies. Imhoff founded a chocolate and sugar factory after World War II where he produced non-branded chocolates, which became very successful. In 1969 he took over the ''Hildebrand'' chocolate company in Berlin – Germany's oldest chocolate manufacturer - who held the chocolate brand " Scho-Ka-Kola". In 1972 Imhoff took over the failing

Stollwerck Stollwerck GmbH is a German chocolate manufacturer. It was founded in 1839 and expanded internationally in Europe and America, becoming the second largest producer of chocolate in the United States by 1900. Since 2011 it has belonged to Belg ...

chocolate company, and managed to convert it into a successful business. He built up a European Chocolate group through acquiring other brands such as

Sprengel Sprengel is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Hermann Sprengel (1834–1906), chemist * Karl or Carl Sprengel (1787–1859), botanist * Kurt Sprengel (1766–1833), botanist * Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750–1816), teacher and ...

and

Sarotti Sarotti is a German chocolate brand owned by Stollwerck GmbH since 1998. History Berlin In 1868 Hugo Hoffmann opened a company to produce sweets. The location of this shop was in Mohrenstraße 10 in Berlin. The industrial chocolate production t ...

. Imhoff retired from the company in 2002. In 1993 Imhoff opened the ''Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum'' (Imhoff Chocoilate Museum) in Cologne which creates around 650,000 visitors per year. In 2001 the city of Cologne gave Imhoff an

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

. Imhoff was married to Clare Gerburg Schmitt, with whom he had four children. He died on 21 December 2007 (aged 85) of an infection caused by lung inflammation.„Schokoladenfabrikant Imhoff gestorben“

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, '' Der Spiegel'', w ...

, 22. December 2007

Titles

Honorary consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

* 2001 honorary citizenship, of Cologne

Literature

Claus Jacobi Claus Jacobi (4 January 1927 – 17 August 2013) was the editor of the German news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' from 1962–1968. He was arrested during the Spiegel scandal. Jacobi was born and died in Hamburg. In 1946, he started his journalistic ca ...

: ''Der Schokoladenkönig. Das unglaubliche Leben des Hans Imhoff''. Langen Müller, München 1997, (German)

References

External links

Hans Imhoff obituary

Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger The ''Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger'' (KStA) is a German daily newspaper published in Cologne, and has the largest circulation in the Cologne–Bonn Metropolitan Region. ''Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger'' has a base of over 100 contributing editors and a wide ...

, 22. December 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Imhoff, Hans Businesspeople from Cologne Chocolatiers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia 1922 births 2007 deaths