The Freudenberg family is the German founding family of the Freudenberg Group, an industrial conglomerate with investments ranging from engineering and technology, to automobile parts and textiles, cleaning and building materials.
Through its 40 market segments, the Freudenberg Group operates in nearly 60 countries and sees annual sales of more than $10 billion. Headquartered in Weinheim, Germany, the company was founded in 1849 by Carl Johann Freudenberg and Heinrich Christian Heintze, which then exclusively produced leather products.
Reinhart Freudenberg, the great-grandson of Carl Johann, joined the company’s tannery business in 1961. He was appointed member of the management board and general partner in 1972 and would go on to replace his brother, Hermann Freudenberg, as speaker of the management board.
Reinhart was instrumental in implementing the decentralised corporate structure that the Group uses today. He retired as chairman of the board of partners in 2005 and passed away in 2017. He was the last family member to hold overall responsibility for the company.
Wolfram Freudenberg, a fifth-generation family member who is the former head of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, succeeded Reinhart as chairman of the board of partners. In 2014, Martin Wentzler, another fifth-generation family member, took over the chairman’s position. The Freudenberg family has 320 heirs with a stake in the company.