Last week we received the sad news that our dear colleague and PURPOSE co-founder, Ernst Schütz, passed away on April 30 after an illness and a fulfilled life.

Grieving for our dear Ernst, we would like to pause and look back on our time together. Because Ernst was a pioneer- especially in the innovation and promotion of steward ownership.

Starting his career as a demeter farmer, Ernst later set up an ecological textile dyeing facility, and, together with Heinz Hess, worked on establishing the first ecological mail-order textile company Hess Natur. He was always a forerunner, venturing into new fields despite massive opposition, and distributing products he believed in that were sometimes ridiculed but have now gained broad recognition.

This was also the case with the company Waschbär, an eco-mail order company that he saved from bankruptcy and expanded. His idealism was paired with strong pragmatism and a sense of reality. Ernst not only restructured Waschbär but later, as president of Bio Development AG, led various organic businesses successfully through the toughest crisis in the organic sector.

Ernst was a forerunner who explored new paths, also in the field of corporate ownership. Convinced that speculation with companies often leads to wrong incentives and that short-term thinking can jeopardize long-term success, he forbade himself from any speculative investments in real estate or stocks. When it was time for his succession at the company Waschbär, we co-founded the Purpose Foundation Switzerland in 2015. Transferring the company Waschbär into steward ownership, Ernst opened up the possibility for talented employees to step in as his successors, regardless of their financial situation. Thereafter, he invested a lot of time and money in building up the Purpose Foundation and was involved as a mentor and investor in several young steward-owned companies.

Ernst was not a man of words, but a man of actions. He did what he believed was right and relied on his quick analytical ability, his favorite program Excel, and his strong intuition. Ernst loved to make things happen when he was convinced they were needed and possible.

As an active team member, Ernst shaped our Purpose Evergreen Capital team and the work with our portfolio companies with his expertise.

His home became the hub for our team meetings, where we also benefited from his exceptionally generous and warm hospitality. Ernst was a gifted cook and loved sourcing high-quality ingredients to then prepare them with love and sophistication.