Klaus Tschira was a German businessman who was best known to be a co-founder of SAP, the software giant. He founded SAP along with three other people, Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector and Hasso Plattner, from IBM in 1972, and planned on making software that created a seamless, faster computing system. The company went public in 1988, after which Klaus established a physical office in America. He retired in 1998, but continued serving on its supervisory board till 2007.
Klaus was an amateur astronomer and a trained physicist too, and setup a charity to promote research in sciences in 1995, named as the Klaus Tschira Foundation. He also founded the Gerda & Klaus Tschira Foundation in 2008. He received honorary doctorate from the University of Klagenfurt in 1995, honorary senator from the University of Heidelberg in 1997, Alwin-Walther-Medal in 2008, honorary senator from the Heidelberg College of Education in 2008, and honorary doctorate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2010. Tschira died with a natural cause in March 2015.
Let us have a look at the Klaus Tschira Family.
Klaus Tschira Parents
Tschira was born in 1940 in Freiburg Germany. His mother was a nurse, and his father was a businessman. After completing physics graduation from the University of Karlsruhe in 1966, he joined IBM, which was the top company in the IT world at that time. Here, he met some colleagues, who together quit IBM, and started working on creating a faster and more efficient software program. They established SAP, which is short-form for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing.
Klaus Tschira Wife – Gerda Tschira
Tschira was married to Gerda Tschira, with whom he founded Gerda and Klaus Tschira Foundation or GKTS in 2008. The foundation supports abroad studies for single parents, for which it provides financial help. The amount is specified for different countries, and the period is limited to one year. The candidate should be a student of Mathematics, Computer Science or Natural Sciences.
Klaus Tschira Children: Udo and Harald Tschira
Klaus had two sons, Udo and Harald Tschira, both of whom have took over Klaus Tschira Foundation as managing partners after their father’s death. The foundation is geared towards promoting natural sciences, mathematics and computer science.
Net worth
Klaus Tschira’s last net worth was estimated to be about $8.9 billion. He was rated as the richest person in Germany, and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.