Adolf Würth also spelled Wuerth ( February 7, 1909 – December 14, 1954) was a German businessman. In 1945, he founded what today is known as Würth Group, the world's largest industrial screw distributor. He is the father of

Reinhold Würth Reinhold Würth (born 20 April 1935) is a German businessman and art collector. In 1954, at the age of 19, he took over his father's wholesale screw business and built it into the Würth Group, which posted €19.9 billion (US$21.68 billion) in ...

Early life and education

Würth was born in

Ilsfeld Ilsfeld is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, on the outer edge of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. In addition to the village of Ilsfeld proper, it includes the formerly independe ...

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

to Friedrich Würth. His father was a farmer, winemaker and innkeeper. In 1922, he became an apprentice in the hardware business of the Reisser Brothers in

Kupferzell Kupferzell is a small German town in the district of Hohenlohe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany named after the Kupfer river flowing through it. The largest neighbouring towns are Künzelsau (to the north) and Schwäbisch Hall (to the south). Hi ...

, which operated stores in

Künzelsau Künzelsau (; East Franconian: ''Kinzelse'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, in south central Germany. It is the capital of the Hohenlohe district. It is located on the river Kocher, 19 km (12 mi) north of Schwäbisch Hall, and 37 ...

Öhringen Öhringen (East Franconian: ''Ähringe'') is the largest town in Hohenlohe (district) in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near Heilbronn. Öhringen is on the railline to Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim. With a population o ...

and

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; 'Swabian Hall'; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the N ...

Career

Immediately after World War II, Würth founded his independent company ''Adolf Würth, Holzschrauben, Künzelsau'' (en: Adolf Würth, wood screws, Künzelsau) as a sole proprietorship on July 16, 1945. However, his wife Alma could also be seen as the initiator of the venture. In December 1952, the company moved into its own headquarters on Bahnhofstrasse in

Personal life

On August 6, 1932, he married Alma Kindermann (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Schrott; 1913–2006). She was previously widowed and had no children from her marriage. They had two sons; *

(April 20, 1935), who scaled Würth Group to its multinational level and today is estimated to be worth $26.9 billion. * Klaus-Frieder Würth (April 11, 1944) Würth died on December 14, 1954, after a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. After his death the family business was taken-over by his wife and his 19-year-old son Reinhold. They turned the company into a multinational screw concern (today also known as Adolf Würth GmbH & Co KG - named after the founding father).

References

{{Reflist 1909 births 1954 deaths 20th-century German businesspeople People from the Grand Duchy of Baden People from Baden-Württemberg Businesspeople from Baden-Württemberg German company founders German manufacturing businesspeople