Erivan Karl Matthias Haub (29 September 1932 – 6 March 2018) was a German

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...

businessman, and the managing director and part owner of

Tengelmann Group Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft KG, doing business as the Tengelmann Group, is a holding company based in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Structure The corporation has the following subsidiaries: * KiK Textilien und Non-Food GmbH, with over 3 ...

, one of Germany's largest retailers. At the time of his death in March 2018, his net worth was estimated at $6.4 billion.

Early life

Erivan Haub was born 29 September 1932 in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Germany. He was the son of Erich Haub and Elizabeth Haub (née Schmitz-Scholl) (1899–1977), who originates from the

Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many co ...

family Schmitz-Scholl, the owners of the grocery chain Tengelmann.

Career

After the Second World War, he completed two

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

s with the

Jewel Tea Jewel-Osco is a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. In 2007, the company had 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwe ...

company in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and the Alpha-Beta company in

La Habra, California La Habra (archaic spelling of ''La Abra'', ) is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. A related city, La Habra Heights, is located to the north of ...

, before returning to Germany to study economics at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. In the 1960s, he and his wife lived in Tacoma, Washington. He gave a big donation to the Tacoma Art Museum which led to more extensive Western Art ownership. At one time, he was the 6th richest man in the U.S., just one position ahead of Bill Gates, but later dropped to about 250th. Haub died at his home in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

, US. He joined the family business in 1963. Upon the death of his uncle Karl Schmitz-Scholl in March, 1969 he became the group's

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

. Haub concentrated the Tengelmann group business on the

retail trade Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

. Under his guidance Tengelmann expanded: in 1971 it took over the grocery chain ''Kaiser's''; in 1972 Haub founded the

discount Discount may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Discount (band), punk rock band that formed in Vero Beach, Florida in 1995 and disbanded in 2000 * ''Discount'' (film), French comedy-drama film * "Discounts" (song), 2020 single by American rapper Cu ...

grocery retailer ''Plus''. In the following years, Tengelmann focused on the development of its

international business International business refers to the trade of goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale. It involves cross-border transactions of goods and services between two or mor ...

, which led to the 1979 takeover of

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until 1965, the la ...

. In 2000, he handed the position over to his son Karl-Erivan, and joined the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil ...

Family

Erivan Haub married Helga Otto in 1958. They lived in Wiesbaden and had three sons: * Karl-Erivan Haub (1960-2018) * Georg Haub * Christian W.E. Haub (born 1964)

Honors

The Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University is named in his honour. The Helga Otto Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyomin ...

is named for his wife, Helga.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haub, Erivan 1932 births 2018 deaths German businesspeople in retailing 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia People from Hesse-Nassau People from Wiesbaden German billionaires People from Pinedale, Wyoming

Erivan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

University of Hamburg alumni

Early life

Career

Family

Honors

See also

References