Verena "Vreni" Spoerry (née Toneatti; 8 March 1938 – 29 May 2025) was a Swiss attorney, business executive and politician who served on the

Council of States (Switzerland) The Council of States is a house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the other house being the National Council. As the powers of the houses are the same, it is sometimes called perfect bicameralism. It comprises 46 members. Twenty of t ...

for the Free Democratic Party from 1996 to 2003. She previously served on the

National Council of Switzerland The National Council (; ; ; ) is a house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, representing the people. The other house, Council of States, represents the states, preventing more populous parts of the country overpowering the rest. As the p ...

from 1983 to 1996. Spoerry was described as "Switzerland's most active professional board member" and held a variety of prestigious board memberships such as SKA (

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, and

Swissair Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...

. She was accused in the Swissair bankruptcy trial however was acquitted on all accounts.

Early life and education

Spoerry was born Verena Toneatti on 8 March 1938 in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland, the youngest of three children, to Peter Toneatti (1899–1991) and Martha Toneatti (née Schmidhauser). Her father, a PhD graduate from

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

, founded a subsidiary of the construction company Toneatti Ltd., which was founded in 1889 by her paternal grandfather, Italian-born Giovanni Toneatti (1854–1929), who originally hailed from

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

. Her siblings include Martha Wettler (née Toneatti; born 1927) and Peter Toneatti Jr. (born 1929). Spoerry was raised in

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, Rapperswil-Jona also includes Bollinge ...

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

, where she attended local schools. Upon completion of her commercial matriculation, she studied law and completed a

licentiate degree A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. The Licentiate (Pontifical Degree) is a post graduate degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universitie ...

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

Political career

Spoerry started her political career as municipal councilor (1978–1986) in

Horgen Horgen () is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the mu ...

, where she resided. She then served on the

Cantonal Council of Zürich The Cantonal Council of Zürich () is the legislature of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Zürich, Zürich, in Switzerland. Zürich has a unicameral legislature. The Cantonal Council has 180 seats, with members elected every four ...

from 1979 to 1983 and ultimately on the

National Council (Switzerland) The National Council (; ; ; ) is a house of the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly of Switzerland, representing the people. The other house, Council of States (Switzerland), Council of States, represents the states, preventing mor ...

from 1983 to 1996 and

from 1996 to 2003. She was a member of the Free Democratic Party (presently The Liberals).

Personal life and death

She married Christoph Spoerry, a textile heir originally from Flums, with whom she had three children. Her son, Kaspar Spoerry (1968–1989), died aged 21 in a bicycle accident. In his name she and her husband formed the ''Kaspar-Spoerry-Foundation'', a non-profit which supports athletics for people with special needs. She had two daughters and resided in

Horgen, Switzerland Horgen () is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the munic ...

. Vreni Spoerry died on 29 May 2025, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spoerry, Vreni 1938 births 2025 deaths Swiss business executives Swiss people of Italian descent University of Zurich alumni People from Zurich People from Horgen Politicians from Zurich Swissair Nestlé people Credit Suisse people National Council (Switzerland) Members of the Council of States (Switzerland) Women members of the Council of States (Switzerland) Candidates for the Federal Council (Switzerland)