Urs Bühler passed away on August 1. He was 82. Bühler shaped the namesake company for over 50 years as an owner, Chairman of the Executive Board, and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1970. In 2014, Urs Bühler transferred the company shares to his daughters Karin, Maya, and Jeannine Bühler, who are the fifth-generation owners of the family business.

Born in 1943 in Uzwil, Urs Bühler spent his youth there. He studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich. Joining Bühler in 1970, he held various positions both domestically and internationally, until being 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.

Throughout his career, he held numerous external mandates, including the boards of the Swiss Bank Corporation, Sulzer Group, and Winterthur Insurance, and was on the board of Swissmem for 30 years, significantly contributing to Swiss industrial history.

In 2001, as part of succession planning, he transferred operational responsibility of the Group to Calvin Grieder, who also took over as Chairman of the Board in 2014.

“We are committed to the legacy of our father and predecessors and will continue to run Bühler as a family business. The strategic focus on innovation, training and development, and sustainability also has our full support,” emphasize the three daughters.

During his more than 50 years at Bühler, Urs Bühler has taken numerous long-term decisions that led to the company’s development, including going international, followed by its global expansion, the entry into new technology fields such as extrusion, and the early adoption of modern information and automation technologies.

His focus on innovation is also reflected in the Urs Bühler Innovation Fund (an innovation advisory board consisting of recognized experts, which Urs Bühler attended with great enthusiasm and commitment), the construction of the Cubic Innovation Campus, and the recently opened Bühler Energy Center.

Photo: Bühler