Long-time major shareholder of BZ Erwin Reinhardt died
Erwin Reinhardt, a longtime major shareholder of the Berner Zeitung, has died at the age of 91. This was reported in obituaries published on Monday.
Reinhardt is survived by his 83-year-old wife Franziska Reinhardt-Scherz. The Scherz family, which was active in the paper trade, had already been in tacit possession of the Berner Tagblatt. The newspaper merged with two large rural newspapers in 1979 to form the Bernese Newspaper.
The spotlight was on Charles von Graffenried, Reinhardt's lawyer of confidence at the time, as the BZ writes in its obituary. It was not until the early 1990s that Reinhardt's involvement became known. In 2007, the two men sold their media company, now called Espace Media Groupe, to Zurich-based Tamedia.
The Reinhardt and von Graffenried couple also founded the Reinhardt von Graffenried Foundation, which aims to promote quality journalism and presents the Swiss Press Award every year. (SDA)
