Götz Wolfgang Werner (5 February 1944 – 8 February 2022) was a German billionaire businessman and founder of the

dm-drogerie markt dm-drogerie markt (usually abbreviated as dm) is a chain of retail stores headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, offering cosmetics, healthcare items, household products and health food and drinks. The company was founded in 1973 when it opened i ...

retail store chain. He was also known as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

(UBI). In 2013,

Manager Magazin ''Manager Magazin'' (stylized as ''manager magazin'') is a German monthly business magazine focusing on business, finance and management based in Hamburg, Germany. History and profile ''Manager Magazin'' was first published on 1 November 1971. ...

estimated his net worth to be around €1.1 billion, making him the 109th- richest German.

Career

In 1973, Werner co-founded his first drugstore,

, a German

drugstore A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacis ...

chain, in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. By 1978, there were more than 100 branches in Germany. Later he was member of the advisory board of dm. In 1976, Werner expanded into the Austrian market. He led the company for 35 years. From October 2003 till September 2010, he was the head of the Cross-Department Group for Entrepreneurial Studies at the

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

. Till 2018 he was president of the EHI Retail Institute (EHI). Inspired by

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...

's teachings of

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...

, Werner was one of the most influential advocates of basic income in Germany (''1000 Euros for everyone''). He founded the initiative ''Unternimm die Zukunft'', or ''Become an entrepreneur of the future''.

Personal life and death

Werner was married twice and had seven children. He died in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

on 8 February 2022, at the age of 78.

Bibliography

* ''Einkommen für alle. Der dm-Chef über die Machbarkeit des bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens.'' Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2007, . * with Adrienne Goehler: ''1000 € für jeden. Freiheit, Gleichheit, Grundeinkommen.'' Econ, Berlin 2010, . * with Claudia Cornelson: ''Womit ich nie gerechnet habe. Die Autobiographie'', Berlin: Ullstein 2013, . * with Peter Dellbrügger (Hrsg.): ''Wozu Führung? Dimensionen einer Kunst.'' KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe 2013, .

References

External links

Götz Werner
on the ''Unternimm die Zukunft'' website (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Werner, Gotz 1944 births 2022 deaths 21st-century German writers 21st-century German male writers Anthroposophists Universal basic income in Germany Universal basic income writers Businesspeople from Heidelberg German male writers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg People from the Republic of Baden