The Georg Nordmann Holding Group mourns the passing of Edgar E. Nordmann
Deeply saddened, the staff of Georg Nordmann Holding Aktiengesellschaft (GNH) and its subsidiaries Nordmann, Rassmann GmbH (Nordmann) and ROWA GROUP Holding GmbH (ROWA) bid farewell to their chief manager Edgar E. Nordmann. He passed away unexpectedly and peacefully at the age of 83 on March 8, 2023 in Kuala Lumpur and was buried on the same day in Malaysia. Until 2016, Edgar E. Nordmann was one of the managing directors of Nordmann as well as ROWA and was the chairman of the GNH board. Following his retirement from operational management, he always maintained interest in the group of companies as an owner.
As the eldest son of the Nordmann family, after completing a commercial apprenticeship at Petersen & Co., he began working for Nordmann in 1963 and developed a passion for Asia and rubber there right from the very start. In 1973, he was appointed to senior management alongside his father Georg Nordmann. Sharing joint management responsibilities later with his brother Carsten Nordmann, the third generation of the family undersaw the development of Nordmann’s already longstanding import of rubber and raw cocoa into what is today: a globally operating group of companies. Edgar E. Nordmann was responsible, among other things, for growing and expanding the company’s chemical distribution business into Eastern Europe – establishing the first Nordmann subsidiaries there after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Georg Nordmann Holding Group now has companies all across Europe, as well as in Asia and North America.
“Through his vision, competence and great personal commitment, Edgar E. Nordmann established Nordmann as a multinational company. He was a gifted networker,” recalls Managing Director Dr. Gerd Bergmann on behalf of Nordmann. “I developed strong personal connections to him through our shared passion for rubber.”
Together with Udo Müller, Edgar E. Nordmann also built ROWA into a multinational manufacturer and compounder of plastics, special coatings and blowing agent compounds with several production facilities located in Germany, the USA and Asia. ROWA’s Managing Director, Kai Müller, comments: “Edgar E. Nordmann was a visionary and person of great courage, energy, ambition and joy. Combined with an open and positive attitude, this gave him a distinctly balanced and very approachable personality. With his gregarious manner and optimistic way of thinking, he motivated and provided guidance to many of us.”
Irina Zschaler, CEO of GNH, gives voice to the grief and sympathies of the entire staff: “We will always remember and appreciate Edgar E. Nordmann for being the dedicated, philanthropic and successful CEO and managing director he was – as well as an attentive advisor, supportive mentor and generous friend. His personable nature will remain unforgotten among our staff. We will miss Edgar E. Nordmann in his inimitable presence.”
An exceptional personality
Edgar E. Nordmann stood for innovation, future-oriented thinking and social responsibility. His gift for always treating employees, business partners, service providers and competitors with the utmost respect and friendliness created a trust-filled and ever-positive atmosphere.
In keeping with the Nordmann family tradition, he took on a number of different honorary offices. For decades he held leading positions in the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the OAV (East Asian Association), the VCH (German Chemical Trade Association), the APA (Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business), the Fecc (European Association of Chemical Distributors), the ICTA (International Chemical Trade Association), the RTA (Rubber Trade Association) and the NACD (National Association of Chemical Distributors), among others. He also applied his deep ties to Malaysia to decades of service as Malaysian Honorary Consul General for Hamburg (1985-1995) and subsequently for Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony (1996-2023).
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Nordmann in 2012, and in memory of their parents, the siblings Edgar E. Nordmann, Carsten Nordmann and Anneke Pahl joined efforts to establish the Inge & Georg Nordmann Foundation – enabling disadvantaged youth in their hometown of Hamburg to engage in educational, artistic and cultural pursuits.
Edgar E. Nordmann was a worldly entrepreneur from Hamburg, now leaving behind a great gap in our ranks.
Death is, in a sense, an impossibility that suddenly becomes a reality.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
