It is with great gratitude and deep respect that we bid farewell to Marianne Zimmermann, co-founder of AZO and a formative personality in our company for decades. Her life's work and her endeavours have had a lasting influence on the development of the AZO Group - both professionally and personally.
Together with her husband Adolf Zimmermann, Marianne Zimmermann laid the foundation stone for the company in Osterburken in 1949. What began as a bold step at the time has developed over the decades into an internationally successful group of companies with around 1,100 employees today.
From the very beginning, Marianne Zimmermann was a silent but indispensable force. With great organisational talent, vision and reliability, she ensured structure and cohesion within the company. In particular, she was responsible for finances, bank discussions and insurance issues and also mastered challenging situations with prudence and consistency.
She also played a key role in shaping internal processes and the corporate culture. She established clear communication processes, developed checklists for family and company events and promoted a sense of community through parties and celebrations, which are still part of AZO's culture today.
Marianne Zimmermann also played a decisive role externally: She was involved in setting up the German sales force and the international agencies, conducted customer negotiations for major orders and helped to make the company stable and future-proof. Between 1977 and 1990, she also supported the branding and advertising activities that established the AZO name in the long term.
Training young people was a particular concern of hers. She personally mentored over 100 apprentices and at the same time promoted the international expansion of the company. Her actions were always characterised by a sense of duty, care and high standards - without loud words, but with a lasting effect.
Marianne Zimmermann leaves behind a cultural legacy that lives on in the AZO Group. Values such as responsibility, trust, respect and cohesion still form the foundation of our family business today, which is now being shaped by the third generation of the entrepreneurial family. This continues what Marianne Zimmermann built up together with her husband: a family business that focusses on long-term thinking, reliability and shared responsibility.
We will honour the memory of our founder Marianne Zimmermann.