Axel Th. Simon has died at the age of 74 Dr. Axel Theobald Simon passed away unexpectedly on 25 April 2018 at 74 years of age. His absence will be painfully felt by his family, the Bitburger Brewing Group, and many other people and institutions, including VLB Berlin, which Axel Th. Simon was closely associated with for over 40 years. He greatly influenced VLB Berlin while serving as Chairman of the Administrative Board from 1989 to 2014. In appreciation of his 25 years of honorary service, Axel Th. Simon was named Honorary President of VLB Berlin in 2014. urer on the Administrative Board in 1981. VLB’s top governing board named him to serve as its Chairman on 1 January 1989. He remained in the honorary post as VLB President until September 2014 – for him, it was something close to his heart. Axel Th. Simon also left his mark on the Society for History of the Brewing Sector (GGB), where he served as Vice Chairman starting in 1982 and Chairman since 2016. Numerous awards An extraordinary personality, Simon also served on many other business and scientific committees, including on the Board and Executive Committee of the German Brewers Federation (DBB), as Vice President of the Trier Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and on the Supervisory Board of Volksbank Bitburg. He has been recognized many times over for his outstanding service, receiving the Federal Cross of Merit in 2004, the Economic Medal of the State of RhinelandPalatinate in 2007, and the honorary plaque ‘maximi honoris causa’ from the city of Bitburg in 2013, among others. He also held the VLB golden badge of honor. VLB has lost their Honorary President, a professed VLB alumnus at heart until the end. Thanks to the new Axel Simon Library, his name and legacy at VLB will be remembered by future brewers for generations to come. He leaves behind a wife, three daughters, and five grandchildren.
Brauerei Forum International – May 2018
Photo: Jan Biering
(dp) VLB Berlin mourns the loss of a Bitburger Brewery developed into friend and a loyal companion who one of the most modern brewerfaithfully remained at the institute’s ies in the world in the 1970s and side through thick and thin for over 1980s. Its groundbreaking innovafour decades. His death marks the tion also included the building of end of years of fruitful collabora- a pilot brewery as well as the contion with a highly respected per- struction of a wastewater treatment son: an entrepreneur and brewer plant for the brewery, which begun through and through who stood by back in 1976. VLB Berlin with heart and soul. Axel Theobald Simon was born in Bitburg on 11 August 1943 as the son of brewery co-owner Josef Bertrand Simon. With this background, Axel Th. Simon was destined to pursue a career in brewing. This was an opportunity as well as a duty that he fulfilled with fervor. The first step in his career was finishing his degree in brewing technology from 1965 to 1969 in Berlin, graduating as a certified engineer. In addition, he completed his postgraduate studies from 1970 to 1972 in Munich as an industrial engineer. He then joined Bitburger Brewery in 1972, representing the sixth generation of the familyowned business. With that, a new chapter in the history of the brewery began. Dr. Axel Th. Simon (11 August 1943 – 25 April 2018 This was evident in the construction of the new Bitburg-Süd brewery, which laid the Deep roots in VLB Berlin foundation for Bitburger Brewing In addition to his work in Bitburg, Group’s steady growth. To a great Axel Th. Simon was also involved in degree, this was due to the efforts many other business and scientific of Axel Th. Simon. He became Chief committees. He regularly attended Technology Officer at the Bitburger VLB Berlin conferences in his role as Brewing Group in 1975, knowing Bitburger Brewery’s CTO and was a exactly how to combine brewing member of VLB’s Technical Scienexpertise, a sense of quality, and tific Committee (TWA) before being advanced technology. As a result, elected to the post of VLB Treas-
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