Obituary for Prof. Dr Hans J. Tümmers (1944–2026)
Hans Tümmers joined the university as a lecturer in 1973. In 1976, as a young professor, he took up the post of Dean of the Department of International Business. And as early as 1978, together with his colleagues, he developed the idea of a European, internationally integrated degree programme. In 1979, he was finally appointed the founding dean of the new ESB department.
Hans Tümmers was one of those people who did not merely operate within existing structures. He created new, truly disruptive structures, thereby anticipating developments that would only become an integral part of European higher education years later. The establishment of the “European Study Programme for Business Administration” in 1979 marked the creation of the first international double-degree programme in business administration in Germany.
From the very beginning, collaboration with the first partner universities in France, Great Britain and Spain went beyond that of a traditional exchange programme. It was based on the idea that academic education and European understanding can and should be linked. Students were to study in different countries, be educated within shared study structures and, upon completion, obtain degrees from several partner universities, underpinned by the idea of “Unity in Diversity”.
This vision required courage and the ability to turn an idea into concrete steps. It was precisely this combination of vision and pragmatism that characterised Hans Tümmers. Prof. Dr. Ottmar Schneck, former Dean of ESB Business School, later described him as a person with a “visionary imagination” and, at the same time, “hands-on pragmatism”.
It was by no means a foregone conclusion that the original idea would develop into a lasting success story. In the autumn of 1979, the “European Study Programme for Business Administration” began its academic activities with just six professors and 32 students.
Hans Tümmers did not view ESB merely as a place of quality teaching. He wanted to create a faculty which thought internationally, acted entrepreneurially and opened up exceptional opportunities for its students. He therefore sought close links with alumni and the business community from an early stage. As early as 1977, he initiated the founding of the Reutlingen Business Graduates Association, drawing inspiration from the close-knit alumni culture of the French Grandes Écoles.
His tenure in Reutlingen initially came to an end in 1990, yet his connection to ESB remained. After serving as the European Affairs Representative of the Minister of Economic Affairs in Baden-Württemberg, as the director of a management school in Strasbourg and as the president of a private university, he returned to ESB in 2004. Even after leaving ESB again in 2008, he continued to support and initiate international collaborations, including with partners in Strasbourg and Krakow.
When he retired in 2008, it became clear just how closely his story was intertwined with that of ESB. His farewell lecture, the acknowledgement shown to him by the university community and the naming of a lecture hall in his honour were all expressions of a special bond.
Much of what is now an integral part ESB Business School’s identity – such as international degree programmes, integrated study abroad programmes, double degrees, close partnerships with universities around the world and an international community of students and faculty – can be traced back to the foundations laid by Hans Tümmers and his colleagues at that time.
From ESB’s perspective, however, there is perhaps another way of paying the most lasting tribute his life’s work: generations of students have experienced what it means to study in several countries, to get to know different academic and social cultures, and to forge friendships across borders.
We will remember Prof. Dr. Hans J. Tümmers as a visionary university professor, a courageous entrepreneur, a passionate European and a dedicated pioneer of international higher education.
His vision lives on: at ESB, in its international partnerships and above all in the people who, through ESB, have learned to look beyond borders.
Our deepest sympathy goes out to all those who were personally close to him.
ESB Business School
Reutlingen University
