Johanna Quandt, heiress of BMW family, dies at 89

Known for fiercely protecting her privacy, Johanna Quandt setup an eponymously-titled foundation in 1995 to administer to her wealth.

With Mr. Quandt at the helm, BMW was able to fend off collapse – and a takeover by Daimler – to become one of the world’s top-selling, and most prestigious, luxury auto brands.

Johanna Quandt was the wife of Herbert Quandt, the German industrialist credited with BMW’s revival in the post-war years, who died in 1982. “She gave the company support and stability”.

While appointed managers were running the family company, Johanna Quandt herself was using her millions to support causes she favored, including the arts, healthcare research, and journalism grants.

31, 2009 photo shows, from left, Stefan Quandt, his mother Johanna Quandt and his sister Susanne Klatten, from left, in Wiesbaden, central Germany. Klatten and Stefan Quandt are both members of the BMW supervisory board.

Detailed information on Ms. Quandt’s other survivors was not immediately available.

“The stake will remain within the family”, spokesman Joerg Appelhans said.

Johanna Bruhn was born in Berlin.

Johanna married Herbert Quandt in 1960 after having worked for him in the 1950s. Johanna was at his side throughout the transition, eventually marrying Herbert in 1960. Moved by the pleas of BMW’s employees, and against the advice of his bankers, Quandt purchased around 50 percent of BMW and began implementing a turnaround plan that included heavy investment in new models.

Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the BMW supervisory board and former chief executive, described Ms. Quandt as a warm and uncomplicated person.

She died at the beginning of the week at home in Bad Homburg, Germany, according to a statement from the Johanna Quandt Foundation without citing any cause for the passing.