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One of the great Austrian businessmen has died: the co-founder and partner of dm drugstore passed away on Sunday at the age of 76 in Salzburg.
8:25 pm, October 5, 2020
Günter Bauer, Co-founder and partner of dm drugstore, he passed away on Sunday morning at age 76 in Salzburg. Bauer founded the company in Austria together with his friend and longtime partner. Götz Werner in 1976. In the following decades it expanded with dm in eleven other countries. Today the subgroup, which is coordinated from Salzburg, generates more than 21,000 employees almost three billion euros in sales 1700 branches.
Tradesman and rower
Born in Lower Austria, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of dm Austria and CEE until 2008 and of the Supervisory Board and Board of Directors until the end of 2017. He was born in Melk in 1944 and grew up in Krems an der Donau. After his apprenticeship as a retailer, Bauer met Götz Werner, later the founder of dm drogerie markt, in Constance. They were both in the same rowing club.
Starting in Karlsruhe
Following various professional positions in Germany and Austria, Günter Bauer assumed the central administration of Hofer in Vienna. Then he moved to Styria, where Hofer set up his first logistics center. Meanwhile, Götz Werner had put into practice his vision of offering self-service pharmacy products at discount prices. He invited his old rowing partner to Karlsruhe to take a look at the innovative company. Bauer was enthusiastic about the concept and moved to Karlsruhe in early 1976. At the same time, the Austrian company dm was founded and, in late 1977, Bauer returned to Austria to fully concentrate on developing the home business. On November 26, 1976, he opened the first Austrian branch in Linz pigeon market.
