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Manager Utz-Hellmuth Felcht (Archive)

Photo: Hannibal Hanschke/ REUTERS

Utz-Hellmuth Felcht is dead. The manager and doctor of chemistry died on May 18 at the age of 76, but was only honored in the Saturday edition of the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung« with several large-format obituaries. Among other things, he was chief supervisor of Deutsche Bahn and until 2006 chairman of the board of the specialty chemicals manufacturer Degussa.

Deutsche Bahn honored its former chief supervisor as an "extraordinary person" with a "sharp mind" who was highly appreciated for his "level-headed, straightforward, sincere manner". Evonik, for whose predecessor companies Felcht worked, calls his "impressive personality".

Resignation after board dispute

Felcht became known to a wide audience in 2010. The then Federal Minister of Transport, Peter Ramsauer (CSU), had proposed him as the successor to Werner Müller at the head of the Deutsche Bahn supervisory board. In the end, however, in 2018, Felcht had to resign from his office after personnel quarrels.

For example, the manager was held responsible by other members of the supervisory board, among other things, for the failed contract extension of former railway boss Rüdiger Grube. Anonymously, they accused the former chemical manager of having poorly prepared the supervisory board meeting at the time and then not having it under control. Later, the difficult search for top personnel led to criticism of Felcht.

Rai