After a short illness Entrepreneur Walter Fust is dead

The entrepreneur and investor Walter Fust passed away on Tuesday after a short illness. This was announced by his family on Thursday. Fust was 84 years old.

Keystone-SDA

06.02.2025, 07:01

06.02.2025, 07:21

SDA

He became famous with the household appliance and consumer electronics chain Dipl. Ing. Fust AG. He founded the company in 1966 at the age of 25. He sold his life's work to Coop in 2007.

Fust was also an investor. He was the majority shareholder of Jelmoli from 1996 to 2004. Most recently, the machine manufacturer StarragTornos was his main investment.

He owned a good half (52.1%) of the shares and also served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors until the end. This investment was an expression of his passion for the machine tool industry and Switzerland as a business location, according to the family's statement, which was distributed by StarragTornos.

Heirs express confidence in CEO

In the communiqué, Fust's heirs express their "fullest confidence" in the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of StarragTornos, Michael Hauser. He had been Fust's closest confidant for many years. He will lead the Group into the future in the spirit of the deceased.

Fust's share in StarragTornos will remain in the possession of the family, the machine manufacturer emphasized in a separate communiqué. And Walter Fust's heirs will do their utmost to ensure that the shareholding remains in the family.

The business magazine "Bilanz" recently estimated Fust's assets at between 1 and 1.5 billion Swiss francs. According to his family's wishes, his legacy should be continued for the preservation and further promotion of Switzerland as a business location and for charitable purposes, the press release stated.