Institute & Campus / August 07, 2015

The MDC mourns Johanna Quandt

The MDC mourns Johanna Quandt who passed away on Monday, August 3, at the age of 89. She was a great benefactor of science and helped establish the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) with 40 million Euros for her ​„Personal Excellence Initiative“. At a press conference in 2012, she explained her generous donation to the BIH: ​„I want to help create the best conditions for excellent people in Berlin. Students, physicians and top scientists from all over the world should be able to carry out outstanding research at the BIH.“
Johanna Quandt (June 21, 1926 – August 3, 2015) 

In 2013, she was our guest of honour when we opened the Max Rubner Building, named after her grandfather who was a physiologist and hygienist in Berlin and renowned for his work in metabolism. His granddaughter Johanna Bruhn became the wife of the industrialist Herbert Quandt. After the death of her husband in 1982, she continued his work and became the major shareholder of the bavarian automobile manufacturer BMW. The Quandts were one of the richest families in Germany.

„Johanna Quandt was a modest person, very interested in science and public health, with a strong determination“, says Thomas Sommer, the MDC’s scientific director (interim) and member of the board of directors of the BIH. ​„We mourn the loss of a great friend of the MDC and BIH.“

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