Joachim-Herz-Stiftung

Big-hearted and Clear-sighted

He was an extraordinary man. Responsible and creative, self-disciplined yet freedom-loving, frugal and equally as generous. Entrepreneur Joachim Herz from Hamburg was characterized by strong and sometimes seemingly contradictory personality traits. He was a man described by the staff closest to him as "beyond compare and almost indescribable.”

Joachim Herz was unconventional in his clear-sightedness, his big heart, and his determination to take fate into his own hands. He believed that a person should be proactive in life and not just react. It was one of his strongest convictions that everyone is responsible for making the best of his or her opportunities.

Independent and Successful

For the second-oldest son of Max Herz, founder of the German company Tchibo, this meant following his own path early on in life – a path outside of the family business and outside of Hamburg’s high society. In the early 1970s, he established his first business contacts in the USA. Over the years, this country became one of his great passions. It was a relationship of mutual liking in every respect, for, in many ways, Joachim Herz embodied the classic American “self-made man”: independent, successful and with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

During this period of his life, he relocated his Hamburg office to Langenhorn – to the top floor of a refurbished coffee-roasting tower overlooking the nearby airport Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel. It was from this location that he managed his assets. In fact, the walls of the tower are still adorned with the pictures and works of art he collected. Today the building serves as the headquarters of the Joachim Herz Stiftung.

Passion for Economic Affairs

Joachim Herz met his second wife, Petra, when he was 40. For almost three decades, the couple worked together in their tower, side by side, day by day. Joachim Herz was an intelligent man with a sharp understanding and a particular interest in economic affairs. He had a knack for stimulating ideas with his provocatively astute and unorthodox way of thinking and was always on the lookout for new approaches to a problem. He questioned established ways of doing things, debating issues in great detail – and often for hours on end – with international finance experts as well as his staff. Though it was impossible to impose an opinion on him, he always kept an open mind for good ideas.

50 Oaks for her Birthday

Joachim Herz was just as much a practical person as he was a thinker. On his American farm near Atlanta, Georgia, he often got behind the wheel of the big bulldozers and tractors himself. He loved water and created new lakes on his land. He also planted 50 oak trees on it for his wife's 50th birthday.

Always a man of action, he was an enthusiastic yachtsman and excellent swimmer. His first and foremost hobby, however, was flying. He bought his first plane, a motor glider made of wood and canvas, in the 1960s. It still stands in the hangar on his farm today. Over the decades he acquired more planes and earned his helicopter license, eventually working his way up to flying a turboprop seven-seater.

Property Is an Obligation To Be Managed Well

Joachim Herz was very much aware of the potential of his wealth. He saw himself as a mere custodian of his assets, expressing the opinion, “Property is an obligation and it has to be managed well.” In keeping with this idea, he developed, together with his wife, the first concepts for his Foundation. Social justice was to play a decisive role in its design.

Fairness was very important to him, especially towards weaker members of society. For Joachim Herz, evenhandedness and a strong sense of justice counted more than creating harmony at all costs. He hated superficiality and led a very private life. Though a thoroughly generous and open-minded man, he was careful whom he trusted. He banked on a close circle of long-standing advisors and, of course, his wife, appointing her the Foundation’s Chairperson of the Board in his last will and testament.

International and Modern Orientation for Foundation

Having always seen himself as a cosmopolitan, Joachim Herz wanted his Foundation to have an equally international and modern orientation. He decreed in his will that the Foundation be run in an entrepreneurial manner. With regard to his own financial affairs, he acted as independently as possible. Instead of relying on banks, he entrusted the management of his estate to his own Family Office, the staff of which is now part of the Foundation. Today, working together with the management bodies of the Foundation, they decide how the Foundation's assets are best invested in the founder’s interest.

The Establishment of an Important Foundation

The Foundation's statutes were meticulously laid down by Joachim Herz himself. He was also responsible for choosing education, science and research as the focus of the Foundation’s work. His tragic death resulting from an accident in May 2008, however, meant that he would never see his Foundation become reality. Despite her despair at the untimely death of her husband, for Petra Herz it was a matter of course to carry through with their shared idea of setting up a Foundation to serve the public good.

On July 24th, 2008 the Joachim Herz Stiftung was officially recognized as Hamburg’s 1100th foundation. It is not only named after its founder, but also embodies his convictions. What Joachim Herz once planned and designed now constitutes the aims of the Foundation’s work: living in freedom, promoting personal responsibility and self-initiative, supporting people who want to progress in life. With his wife Petra as the Chairperson of the Board, the objectives of the Foundation are now being put into practice in accordance with Joachim Herz’s wishes.

A Pair of Tennis Shoes Behind the Back Seat

On the ground floor of the Foundation’s tower is where Joachim Herz's cherished old VW minivan has found a permanent home. The van has become the “Foundationmobile” and the staff can borrow it whenever they like. There’s still a pair of old tennis shoes behind the back seat – one of the many remembrances of a generous, unconventional, and very special man: Joachim Herz.