Rosely Schweizer (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Roselie Oetker; born 16 July 1940) is a German businesswoman, heiress and former politician who served on the

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the diet (assembly), diet of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 154 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2021 Baden-Württemberg ...

for the Christian Democratic Union between 1994 and 2001. She owns a controlling stake of 12.5% in

Dr. Oetker Dr. Oetker () is a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, Pizza#Preparation, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, birthday candles, beer, and various other products. The company is a wholly owned b ...

and has an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion.

Early life and education

Schweizer was born Roselie Oetker on 16 July 1940 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

(presently Germany), the oldest and only child of

Rudolf August Oetker Rudolf August Oetker (20 September 1916 – 16 January 2007) colloquially also R.A. Oetker was a German industrialist, businessman, ship owner and philanthropist. Most notably he turned Dr. Oetker, founded by his grandfather August Oetker, int ...

and his first wife Marlene Oetker (

Ahlmann). Her mother hailed from an industrial family that owned ''Carlshütte'', an iron foundry with at times employed over 3,000 employees. Her parents were divorced in 1942. Through her fathers two additional marriages, she has a total of seven half-siblings; August (born 1944), Bergit (later

Gräfin (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

Douglas; born 1947), Christian (born 1948) and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

(born 1951) and

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

(born 1967), Ferdinand (born 1972) and Julia (born 1979). She completed her Abitur in

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

and then studied economics at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

in Austria obtaining a degree as ''Diplom-Volkswirt'' in 1964.

Career

Schweizer was a partner and advisory board member of Henkell & Söhnlein and until 2010, she chaired the advisory board of

Politics

Initially, Schweizer served on the municipal council of

Murrhardt Murrhardt () is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 12 km east of Backnang, and 18 km southwest of Schwäbisch Hall. The source of the Murr is situated in Murrhardt. Local council (Gemeinder ...

. Between 1992 and 2001 she served as a member of the

Personal life

In 1965, she married Folkart Schweizer (born 1940), a businessman and later controlling owner of ''Louis Schweizer KG'' (a leather factory) as well as ''Schweizer + Weichand'' (later Schweizer Group) who also hailed from an industrial family. He was originally from

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. They have three children; * Rudolf Louis Schweizer (born 1967),https://www.northdata.de/Schweizer,+Rudolf+Louis,+Stuttgart/k01 a

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

-based private investor * Georg Folkart Werner Schweizer (born 1969), a principal of ''Louis Schweizer GmbH & Co KG'' in

* Carolina Schweizer (born 1972), married to a Mr. Hiebl, a photographer Schweizer resides in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schweizer, Rosely 1940 births 20th-century German businesspeople Living people 21st-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesswomen 20th-century German businesswomen