Erika Pohl-Ströher (18 January 1919 - 18 December 2016) was a German business executive, heiress, and collector of minerals and German folk art. She was resident in Switzerland for much of her life.

Life

Pohl-Stroher was born on 18 January 1919 in

Wurzen Wurzen () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig on the main line via Riesa to Dresden. It has a cathedral dating ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and grew up in

Rothenkirchen Steinberg is a municipality in the Vogtlandkreis district, in Saxony, Germany. It was established in 1994 by the merger of the three villages ''Rothenkirchen'', ''Wernesgrün'' and ''Wildenau'' and named after the nearby ''Steinberg'' (661m/2168&n ...

Vogtland Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the forme ...

. She studied chemistry and biology at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

and received a doctorate in biology. She died on 18 December 2016 at the age of 97.

Business career

Pohl-Stroher's grandparents, Franz and Marie Stroeher, founded the hair care and cosmetics company

Wella AG Wella AG is a German hair care company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Franz Ströher, it specialises in hair care, styling and colorants sold to individuals as well as hairdressers and was controlled by Procter & Gamb ...

in the 19th century. When

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

bought the company for more than $4 billion in 2003, Pohl-Stroher received around $1.1 billion for her 23% stake. Her net worth was estimated by

Forbes magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

to be USD 1.3 billion making her the 101st wealthiest person in Germany at the time of her death.

Art and mineral collection

From 1978 until her death, Pohl-Ströher amassed a large collection of European

portrait miniatures A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

from the 16th through the 19th centuries, including works by, among many others,

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard () was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, ...

Rosalba Carriera Rosalba Carriera (12 January 1673 – 15 April 1757) was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eightee ...

Jean-Étienne Liotard Jean-Étienne Liotard (; 22 December 1702 – 12 June 1789) was a Swiss painter, art connoisseur and dealer. He is best known for his portraits in pastel, and for the works from his stay in Turkey. A Huguenot of French origin and citizen of the ...

Heinrich Friedrich Füger Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin (August 15, 1759 – April 13, 1832) was a French miniature painter. Biography Augustin was born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and died in Paris. He might have had some lessons from Jean-Baptiste Claudot and maybe a ...

, and

Moritz Michael Daffinger Moritz Michael Daffinger (25 January 1790 – 21 August 1849) was an Austrian miniature painter and sculptor. Life Daffinger was born in Vienna, the son of Johann Daffinger (1748–1796), a painter at the local Vienna Porcelain Manu ...

. In 2018, the collection was auctioned by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

for more than 1.7 million

GBP Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and th ...

. Pohl-Ströher was also known for her collection of

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ...

s, which she acquired over sixty years. She permanently loaned her collection to

TU Bergakademie Freiberg The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (abbreviation: TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TUBAF) is a public university of technology with currently 3655 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Its focus is on exploration, mining & ...

in 2004, and part of the collection was put on public display at the Terra Mineralia museum in Freiberg, Saxony, in 2008. The collection is known particularly for its

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macr ...

s. Pohl-Ströher received a number of

geosciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spher ...

award, including the Stein im Brett by the Association of German Geologists and an honorary doctorate from TU Bergakademie Freiberg's Faculty for Geosciences, Geotechnical Engineering and Mining. The mineral was named in her honour in 2010.

References

External links

* ''Includes portrait'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pohl-Stroher, Erika German natural history collectors German mineralogists Businesspeople from Saxony 1919 births 2016 deaths University of Jena alumni People from Vogtlandkreis Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony German expatriates in Switzerland