Otto Beisheim

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title: "Otto Beisheim" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1924-births", "2013-suicides", "2013-deaths", "businesspeople-from-düsseldorf", "german-billionaires", "suicides-by-firearm-in-germany", "commanders-crosses-of-the-order-of-merit-of-the-federal-republic-of-germany", "recipients-of-the-order-of-merit-of-berlin", "metro-group-people", "20th-century-german-philanthropists", "german-prisoners-of-war-in-world-war-ii-held-by-the-united-kingdom", "nazis-who-died-by-suicide-in-germany", "waffen-ss-personnel"] description: "German businessman (1924–2013)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Beisheim" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary German businessman (1924–2013) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Otto Beisheim
image	OttoBeisheimImage.jpg
alt
birth_name
birth_date
birth_place	Weimar Republic
death_date
death_place	Rottach-Egern, Upper Bavaria, Germany
death_cause	Suicide by gunshot
nationality	German
occupation	Businessman
::

| name = Otto Beisheim | image = OttoBeisheimImage.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Weimar Republic | death_date = | death_place = Rottach-Egern, Upper Bavaria, Germany | death_cause = Suicide by gunshot | nationality = German | other_names = | occupation = Businessman | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = Otto Beisheim (3 January 1924 – 18 February 2013) was a German businessman and co-founder of Metro AG. In 2010, his net worth was estimated at US$3.6 billion.

Early life

Beisheim was born on 3 January 1924, near Essen, Germany. He was the son of a caretaker, and his family was too poor to pay for him to attend high school, so he became a leather tradesman.

In October 1942, Otto Besheim voluntarily joined the Waffen-SS. During this time, he temporarily served as Sturmmann (Private) in the SS Division Leibstandarte in an artillery regiment on the Eastern Front.{{cite news|first=Hagen|last=Seidel|newspaper=Die Welt|title=Otto Beisheim: Freitod eines Milliardärs, den kaum einer kannte|date=18 February 2013|language=German|url=https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113730399/Freitod-eines-Milliardaers-den-kaum-einer-kannte.html|access-date=16 July 2020

Career

After the war, Beisheim began his commercial career at the Wilhelm Nebel leather factory. After several positions in the iron and steel industry, he worked for the electrical trading company Stöcker & Reinshagen from 1959, where he became an authorized officer.

Returning to Germany, he founded Metro, the country's first cash-and-carry retailer, in 1964 at Mülheim an der Ruhr.

On 10 January 2004, Beisheim Center was officially opened on the northwest side of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, built for 463 million euros, and including the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott chains.

In 2009, he sold 5.2% of the shares of Metro AG to various national and international investors; a further 3.1% could be sold. The WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, in Vallendar is named after him.

Awards

• Iron Cross II Class
• 1993: Doctor of Economics - honorary, the Technical University of Dresden
• 1994: Grand Federal Cross of Merit
• 2000: Bavarian Order of Merit
• 2003: Order of Merit of the State of Berlin
• 2003: Honorary Senator of WHU
• 2005: WHU ring of honor
• 2005: Honorary citizenship of all five valley communities in the Tegernsee valley
• 2008: Honorary doctorate from WHU

Personal life and legacy

On 18 February 2013, Beisheim committed suicide in his home in Rottach-Egern, Germany. The Beisheim Group issued a statement that Beisheim chose to take his own life after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Beisheim was intensely private and rarely in the public eye. Even at his company's shareholders' meetings, he was reported to have shown up on occasion masquerading under the name Müller.

Otto gave his name to the Beisheim Group, a family holding company for his interests in Metro AG.

References

Bibliography

• Joachim Scholtyseck: Otto Beisheim. Jugend, Soldatenzeit und Entwicklung zum Handelspionier. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2020, ISBN 978-3-506-70429-0.
• Klaus Brockhoff: WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management. Aus der Nische zu internationaler Anerkennung 1984 - 2019. Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2020, ISBN 978-3-7910-4703-4.

References

1. Cruz, Julie. (18 February 2013). "Metro's Billionaire Founder Otto Beisheim Dies, Aged 89". [[Bloomberg L.P.]].
2. (10 March 2010). "#249 Otto Beisheim". Forbes.
3. [http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/otto-beisheim-metro-gruender-ist-tot-a-884077.html Metro Gründer:Otto BEisheim ist tot] [[Der Spiegel]]
4. Scholtyseck, Joachim. (2020). "Otto Beisheim. Jugend, Soldatenzeit und Entwicklung zum Handelspionier". Ferdinand Schöningh.
5. Hägler, Max. (16 November 2005). "Beisheim darf Schulnamen doch kaufen". [[die tageszeitung]].
6. Lesova, Polya. (7 October 2009). "Otto Beisheim sells 5.2% stake in Metro AG".
7. "Schriftenreihe – WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management".
8. "Top Universities".
9. "Business school rankings from the Financial Times – FT.com".
10. [https://tu-dresden.de/ua/dokumentationen/dokumentationen/ehrenpromovenden-der-th-tu-dresden-alphabetisch/ehrendok Ehrenpromovenden der TH/TU Dresden. In alphabetischer Ordnung] TU Dresden, retrieved 21 June 2020.
11. Stephan Burgdorff: [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-8917176.html ''Viel Glück, wenig Skrupel''], [[Der Spiegel. Spiegel]] special 5/1996, 1 May 1996.
12. "Otto Beisheim, German Retailing Pioneer, Dies at 89".
13. (21 January 2020). "Metro's family shareholders lift stake as Kretinsky circles". Financial Times.

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