Andy Rihs (2 November 1942 in Stuttgart – 18 April 2018 in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

) was a Swiss businessperson primarily in Medtech and Sports.

Biography

Andy Rihs' father Ernst had acquired the Zurich-based ''AG für Elektroakustik'' (founded: 1947) in 1965. Only one year later, after the father's passing, Andy took over together with a family friend Beda Diethelm. Andy Rihs' brother Hans-Ueli joined a few years later. The trio developed the company over the course of decades into the world's largest hearing aid company with 17,000 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of CHF 2.4 billion. The hearing aid company was renamed Phonak and in the new century,

Sonova Sonova Holding AG (Phonak Holding AG before 1 August 2007) is an internationally active Swiss group of companies headquartered in Stäfa that specializes in hearing care ( hearing instruments, cochlear implants, wireless communication). The Sono ...

. In 1987, headquarters moved from Zurich to

Stäfa Stäfa is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Stäfa has an area of . Of this area, 46.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 34% is set ...

. A fond cycling enthusiast, Rihs had a big impact on the sport. Rihs was a hobby rider himself who climbed the big Tour de France mountain passes on his bike. He took over the

BMC BMC may refer to: Business and organizations * Beard Miller Company, a US public accounting firm * BioMed Central, a UK-based scientific publisher * BMC Software, an American business service management software vendor * BMC Switzerland, a Swiss b ...

bicycle company in 2000 and created a carbon production facility in

Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 ...

where race bikes were produced which won virtually all important races of the UCI Pro Tour plus the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...

. The ambition was to make BMC bicycles ''the Porsche of race bikes''. Rihs also built an 8,000-square-metre

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement c ...

in Grenchen for

Swiss Olympic Swiss Olympic (also known as german: Schweizerischer Olympischer Verband, french: Association Olympique Suisse, it, Associazione Olimpica Svizzera, rm, Assiociaziun Olimpica Svizra) is the National Olympic Committee and the umbrella organisat ...

athletes. and helped various bike races and the Swiss Cycling federation to survive in difficult times. In 2000, Rihs also created the

Team Phonak Phonak () was a Swiss professional cycling team from 2000 until 2006. The team was one of 20 teams in the first UCI ProTour in 2005. It won one race – Santiago Botero's victory in the Tour de Romandie – and came second in the team ranking on t ...

and backed it until 2006 when cyclist

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

was stripped of his Tour de France title. From 2007, Rihs created the new team BMC Racing sponsored this time by his bicycle company. The team existed until his death in 2018 when it was subsequently renamed

CCC Pro Team CCC Pro Team () was a UCI WorldTeam co-owned and managed by American cyclist Jim Ochowicz, who founded the 7-Eleven Cycling Team. After its last title sponsor, CCC, a Polish shoe retailer, pulled out due to financial difficulties resulting from t ...

. In 2011, BMC Racing won the Tour de France with cyclist

Cadel Evans Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along with ...

. Rihs also started to get involved in football. In 2004, he became co-owner of the

Stadion Wankdorf The Wankdorf Stadium (; between 2005 and 2020 known as Stade de Suisse) is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it currently serves as the home ground of the Swiss football te ...

(site of the FIFA World Cup Final 1954) and the

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

football club in the Swiss

federal city The term federal city is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland, and Russia. Germany In Germany, the former West German capital Bonn has been designated with the unique title of federal city (''Bundesstadt''). Since 28 April 1994, i ...

Bern. He narrowly didn't live to see Young Boys winning their first Swiss championship since 32 years in a game at Wankdorf against FC Luzern on 28th April 2018, only 10 days after Rihs' passing. The title was therefore also dedicated to Andy. In 2022, brother Hans-Ueli Rihs took on full ownership of the club and stadium by buying out Andy's family. Rihs had also financed various start-up companies and owned La Coquillade, a winery with a luxury hotel in the south of France east of

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune ha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rihs, Andy 1942 births 2018 deaths Swiss billionaires People from Stuttgart Swiss business executives