Adolf Merckle [SEP] manner of death
euros. When the liquidity shortage of VEM became public, the media came up with speculations that this was caused by the losses from options on Volkswagen stock. Later it turned out that this was not the case. Neither the amount nor the companies involved were related to the banking negotiations and the following restructuring.
Suicide.
Adolf Merckle committed suicide on 5 January 2009 by throwing himself in front of a train near his hometown.
Adolf Merckle
Adolf Merckle (18 March 1934 – 5 January 2009) was an entrepreneur and one of the richest people in Germany.
Early life.
Merckle was born in Dresden, into a wealthy family.
Career.
He developed his Bohemian grandfather's chemical wholesale company into Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Phoenix Pharmahandel. In the early 1970s he founded Germany's first generic drug manufacturer, Ratiopharm. For several decades he also held large parts of cement company HeidelbergCement as well as vehicle manufacturer Kässbohrer.