There are a lot of rich people in the world. Some are rags to riches stories, some work hard for every cent they have made. And some like Ingeburg Herz inherited the money. In her case she inherited all of the money from her husband upon his death.
Her husband was coffee magnate Max Herz. Max was born in 1905. He was a raw coffee merchant as a young man. He also as a young man, put his fathers coffee business back on its feet after it almost failed. But he really started making his money when he started “Frisch-Röst-Kaffee Carl Tchilling GmbH” in 1949 (French Roasted Coffee). By 1951, he was the company’s only shareholder. The company was a huge success and they could not keep the coffee on the shelves. He married his wife and had five children. By 1965 they had 427 shops and 434 depots. All during this time, Ingeburg is the person that Max turned to for advise and his confidante. So only naturally when he died he left all of his holdings to her and the five children.
The five children were Gunther, Daniela, Michael, Wolfgang and Joachim. Joachim died in 2008 in a boating accident and his shares went to charities. Gunther and Daniela, after a big family feud sold their shares and got completely out of the business. Michael and Wolfgang are still major shareholders and still have a great deal with running the company. Ingeburg still controls 15% of her husband holdings.
She still has major holdings in all of their companies and investments. One of these are Beiersdorf AG, who announced that their business is getting more profitable every year .At Tchibo GmbH, they announced that even with cutbacks on surplus, they are still above plan. Another one is Libri GmbH, is Germany’s leading book wholesaler. Books on Demand GmbH are the country’s No.1 producer of a very small print run. And the last but not least is Blume 2000 Blumen-Handelssge-sellschaft mbH, which is Germany’s largest chain of flowers and plant sellers. There is already over two hundred shops. All of these businesses are doing quite well and still bringing in major profits.
She may have inherited the billions from her husband. But she was right beside his side all of his life. She worked ten-hour days right along her husband and the other workers. She was there for him in all ways that a wife should be and so much more. He came to her for advice, turned to her in confidence and rightfully left his billions to her, and to his children. It is sad that the family broke up over a family feud but at least two of the brothers are there with their mother carrying on their fathers dream.