A formative figure in the company ' s history: Roche Honorary Chairman Fritz Gerber dies at the age of 91

Basel, 11 Mai 2020 - On May 10th 2020 Dr. h.c. Fritz Gerber died in his 92nd year. For more than two decades, he had shaped Roche ' s development into a leading global healthcare company 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. He was deeply convinced of the value of long-term thinking. Our company still benefits today from his courage to invest in biotechnology in the early 1990s when ...
Source: Roche Media News - Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news