Herbert Quandt - Personal Life

Personal Life

He married his first wife, Ursel Münstermann, in 1933 but they divorced in 1940. This marriage had produced a daughter, Silvia Quandt (b 1937), who stayed with her mother after the divorce. Silvia is now an artist who lives in Munich. Ten years later, in 1950, he married his second wife, the jeweller Lieselotte Blobelt, but they divorced in 1959. This second marriage produced Sonja (b 1951) (now Sonja Quandt-Wolf), Sabina (b 1953) and Sven (b 1956). Sven became the manager of the BMW rally team.

Herbert married his third wife Johanna Bruhn in 1960, just a year after his second divorce. She had been a secretary in his office in the 1950s and eventually became his personal assistant. After Herbert's death she did not remarry and now lives quietly in Bad Homburg, though she still owns 16.7% of BMW. The current board members at BMW include Johanna's two children: Stefan Quandt, holder of 17.4% of the shares in BMW and Susanne Klatten, a 12.5% shareholder. They joined the board in May 1997.

Herbert ensured that the shares in his companies were not thinly spread and so to avoid family disputes the children of the previous marriages received large shares in other Quandt family companies. Silvia Quandt, the oldest child, received extensive investments and property in the 1970s. Later the three children from the second marriage were given the majority of the shares of VARTA Battery AG but these have since been sold. Susanne also received his shares in Altana AG, while Stefan also received shares in a holding company called Delton with interests in medical products and power supplies.

Herbert Quandt died 2 June 1982 in Kiel.

Today the Quandts are multi-billionaires, although it is difficult to put an exact figure on their wealth. They do not give interviews and are very publicity shy.