Professor Fritz Sennheiser, PhD

In Memoriam: Fritz Sennheiser, PhD
(May 9, 1912 – May 17, 2010)

The New York Times reports that Fritz Sennheiser, the founder and longtime chairman of Sennheiser Electronic, died on May 17 at his home in Wedemark, Germany. He was 98.

Sennheiser’s death was earlier reported on the Web site of the company’s US subsidiary, headquartered in Old Lyme, Conn, as follows:

Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser dies
Wedemark, Germany
Late during the evening of 17 May 2010, only a few days after his 98th birthday, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Fritz Sennheiser, audio pioneer and founder of today’s Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, passed away. The audio industry has lost a huge figure, not only in terms of his technical expertise but also in terms of his humanity.

The company offers headphones, microphones, wireless microphone and monitoring systems, conference and information systems and aviation and audiology products.

To read the entire article in the New York Times, click here.

After retiring as Sennheiser’s chairman in 1982, Fritz Sennheiser was succeeded by his son, Jörg.

The company has grown from seven staff members when it was established in 1945, to more than 2,100 in 90 countries, according to its Web site. In 2008 the turnover of the family-owned company was around 385 million euros–approximately $500 million–with some 82% generated outside Germany, it says.

Other companies in the group include Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones, since 1991), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centers, since 2003).

It operates a production plant in Wennebostel, Germany (microphones, wireless microphone and monitoring systems, conference and information technology, headsets), Tullamore,
Ireland (headphones, studio monitors, installed sound products), and Albuquerque, New Mexico (wireless microphone and monitoring systems).

Sennheiser and Neumann artists who participated in the recent “Hope for Haiti Now“ fundraiser concert include Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Neil Young, Madonna, and Sting, the company’s Web site reports.

Sennheiser is survived by his daughter Karin Sennheiser, three grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren

[Source: New York Times and the company’s Web site]