Fritz Gerber, the former head of Roche Holding who helped transform the Swiss company from a vitamins, drugs and chemicals company into a biotechnology and diagnostics giant, has died at the age of 91.
For more than two decades, he had shaped Roche's development in an exceptionally successful dual role as Group CEO (1978-1998) and Chairman of the Board (1978-2001).
He remained closely associated with Roche throughout his life as Honorary Chairman.
Starting at the end of the 1970s, Fritz Gerber led the company from a difficult situation to new success. Under his leadership, Roche's Group structures were fundamentally renewed and decentralized ranging from focusing on the core businesses to modernizing the capital structure. This created a fundamental change at Roche that still encourages entrepreneurial thinking today, and empowers employees to make their mark.
Fritz Gerber made numerous major acquisitions with intuition and a keen sense of when something is ripe. Roche still benefits today from his foresight in investing in biotechnology in the early 1990s when he acquired a majority stake in Genentech.
Fritz Gerber led Roche to the global forefront of molecular and laboratory diagnostics with the acquisition of PCR technology and the takeover of Boehringer Mannheim. He laid the foundation for the accelerated development of personalised medicine, an area in which Roche is now a leader.
The Faculty of Science at the University of Basel awarded him an honorary doctorate for his services to the development of biomedicine.
In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Fritz Gerber was particularly committed to education and culture. In 1996 he played a major role in the founding of the Museum Tinguely by Roche.
In 1999 he created the Fritz Gerber Foundation for Gifted Young People, which provides financial support for the education and training of young athletes, craftsmen and artists. Fritz Gerber was also active in the Paul Sacher Foundation for Contemporary Music, on the Board of Trustees of the Lucerne Music Festival and the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
"It is largely thanks to Fritz Gerber that Roche found its way back onto the road to success at the end of the last millennium. He was deeply convinced of the value of long-term thinking, which still characterizes Roche today. He impressed me very much with his friendliness and Bernese charm, but also with his clarity and consistency,' explained Dr Christoph Franz, Chairman of the Roche Board of Directors.
"For 17 years, he even led Roche in a dual mandate with the Chairman's Office of the Zurich Insurance Company, which made him one of the most influential Swiss managers of global stature at the time. During this time he was a member of numerous other boards of directors, including that of IBM. ■