Bühler mourns the death of Urs Bühler

Urs Bühler was born in Uzwil in 1943 and spent his youth there. He attended the cantonal school at Burggraben in St.Gallen and then studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich. After joining Bühler in 1970, he held various positions in Switzerland and abroad until he was appointed CEO in 1986. In 1994, he also took over as Chairman of the Board of Directors. From 1990, Urs Bühler was the sole owner of the company. During his career, Urs Bühler held numerous external mandates, including on the Boards of Directors of Swiss Bank Corporation, the Sulzer Group and Winterthur Insurance. He was also a member of the board of Swissmem for 30 years, making a significant contribution to Swiss industrial history.

In 2001, as part of his succession planning, he transferred operational responsibility for the Group to Calvin Grieder, who also took over as Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2014. Also in 2014, Urs Bühler made forward-looking arrangements for the succession of ownership of the company by transferring the company shares to his daughters Karin, Maya and Jeannine Bühler - the 5th generation of owners. Uze AG, which was founded in 1892 and manages the family's properties, was handed over to the daughters in 2011. "We are committed to the life's work of our father and our predecessors and will continue to run Bühler as a family business. We also fully support the strategic direction with a strong focus on innovation, training and further education as well as sustainability," emphasize the three daughters. 

In his more than 50 years at Bühler, Urs Bühler has shaped the company to this day and ensured its successful further development with numerous long-term decisions. These include, in particular, the internationalization and global expansion of the company, the entry into new fields of technology such as extrusion, and the early use of modern information and automation technologies. His policy of never compromising on innovation is well known and still applies today. This focus on innovation within the company can be seen, among other things, in the Urs Bühler Innovation Fund - an innovation advisory board made up of recognized experts, which Urs Bühler personally attended with great enthusiasm and commitment -, the construction of the Cubic Innovation Campus and the recently opened Bühler Energy Center. Under Urs Bühler's leadership, the mechanical engineering company developed into a broad-based and globally positioned technology group with a comprehensive range of solutions for the food and mobility industries. His life's work has laid the foundation for Bühler to be in an excellent position today to successfully master current and future challenges. 

Despite all his successes, Urs Bühler remained a modest, reserved and empathetic person. In addition to technology and the company, his other great passions were equestrian sports and skiing, as well as a holistic approach to the health of people and animals. The latter found expression in Health Balance AG, which Urs Bühler founded in 2004. Here, too, Urs Bühler always led the way with commitment and innovation. 

Source: Buhler