Christa Gelpke
Christa Gelpke | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christa Engelhorn Template:Birth date Mannheim, Germany |
| Died | February 1, 2014 (aged 81) |
| Occupation(s) | Heiress, philanthropist, photographer |
| Known for | Heiress of Boehringer Mannheim, founder of Drosos Foundation |
| Notable work | Photography in Swiss cultural magazine Du; works in Swiss Social Archives |
Christa Gelpke, born Engelhorn (June 30, 1932 – February 1, 2014), was a German-Swiss heiress and philanthropist.
Life
Christa entered the world in Mannheim as the third offspring of Fritz Carl Engelhorn and Annamarie Engelhorn. She was a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded the chemical enterprise BASF in 1865. Her cousin, Curt Engelhorn, managed the family-owned company Boehringer Mannheim for more than three decades until its acquisition by Roche in 1997 for 19 billion Deutsche Marks. Owning an 18% share in Boehringer, Gelpke's portion of the sale amounted to roughly 2.8 billion Swiss francs. In 2013, she was listed as the 81st wealthiest individual in Germany by Manager Magazin, while Forbes valued her net worth at $3.4 billion in 2015.
A segment of her wealth was directed toward founding the Drosos Foundation in 2003, which dedicates itself to advancing education, nutrition, health care in disadvantaged areas, alongside environmental and climate initiatives. Gelpke preferred to remain an undisclosed founder until the foundation's board revealed her identity in 2020 to commemorate her contributions.
She was married to Wendelin Gelpke, a Swiss architect, until their separation in 1965; together they had three children. Their son Nikolaus Konstantin Gelpke is known as a marine biologist and publisher. Professionally, Christa pursued photography, producing portraits and documentary images for various publications including the Swiss cultural magazine Du. Several of her photographic pieces are preserved within the Swiss Social Archives’ "Image + Sound" collection.
From 1971 to 1973, she engaged architect Beate Schnitter to design and construct Villa Gelpke-Engelhorn, located with a view of Lake Zurich in Küsnacht. Following her passing at age 81, proposals to replace the villa drew media scrutiny until the Zurich Heritage Society granted it protected status in April 2021.