Rietheim-Weilheim, Germany, February 2022 – In silent mourning, the Marquardt family, the Marquardt Group and the shareholders of the family-owned company bid farewell to Dipl.-Ing. Ewald Marquardt. The shareholder, former Spokesman of the Management Board and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the mechatronics specialist fell asleep peacefully on January 28, 2022 at the age of 90. 

Ewald Marquardt was the last living representative of the second generation of entrepreneurs of the Marquardt company founded in 1925. Born in Rietheim as the son of Johannes Marquardt (1889-1942), an industrial pioneer from Württemberg, Ewald Marquardt studied electrical engineering and economics at the University of Stuttgart and RWTH Aachen after graduating from high school. The graduate engineer gained his first professional experience as a patent attorney. In 1965, he joined his father's company, which specialized in switching, control and regulation technology, as a managing partner. 

Paving the Way to World Market Leader 
Ewald Marquardt's initial area of responsibility was development. During this time, the company also set the course for electronics as a supplement to traditional electromechanics, a strategic decision that paved the way for the company to become the world market leader in power tool switches and one of the leading mechatronics experts. Ewald Marquardt also played a key role in the development of modern data management for the group's accounting, material flow, delivery and warehouse logistics. 

Managing Director for Commercial Administration 
In the management team consisting of two representatives of each of the two Marquardt family tribes - Ewald and his brother Jakob belonged to one tribe, Heinz and Erich to the other - Ewald Marquardt headed the commercial administration from 1972 until his retirement in 1998. He was particularly concerned with the international orientation of the company group and the development of a corporate structure geared to the future. In the last years of his active career, Ewald Marquardt was entrusted with the role of Spokesman of the Management Board. Even after his retirement from management, he remained closely associated with the company and was Chairman of the Supervisory Board until his 75th birthday in 2006. 

Charitable Foundation Established 
In 1998, the entrepreneur and patron of the arts established the charitable Ewald Marquardt Foundation for Science and Technology, Art and Culture. The foundation is housed in its own foundation house in the Bulzingen district of Rietheim, on the site of the building that was once the nucleus of the Marquardt company. Ewald Marquardt promoted competition in his former field of work, switching, control and regulation technology, with highly endowed research prizes every two years. As a humanist with a high sense of social responsibility, he also ensured that numerous cultural and charitable institutions and initiatives were supported and promoted. These include the Protestant Association for the Care of the Elderly, the St. Francis Foundation in Heiligenbronn, the Hohenkarpfen Art Foundation in Hausen ob Verena, the Erich Hauser Art Foundation in Rottweil and the library of the Archabbey of St. Martin in Beuron. 

In addition, Ewald Marquardt was active as a church councilor, as a labor and commercial judge, as Chairman of the Association of Independent Entrepreneurs in South Baden, as a member of the Advisory Board of the Central Association of the Electrical Engineering Industry, and on several supervisory and advisory boards. 

High Honors for Lifetime Achievement 
In 1991, Ewald Marquardt was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for his life's work. The Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg followed in 2006. The highest honor was bestowed on him in 2010 with the Order of Merit First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany. The municipality of Rietheim-Weilheim, Germany, awarded Ewald Marquardt honorary citizenship in 2021. 

The funeral took place in Rietheim-Weilheim in the closest family circle. The Marquardt Group mourns and remembers Ewald Marquardt with great respect and gratitude for his services and entrepreneurial achievements.