Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Neitzel has passed away

On January 24, 2022, the founder and long-time director of our company, our dear Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Neitzel, passed away.

Professor Neitzel, born in 1934, studied mechanical engineering and received his doctorate from the Technical University of Hanover in 1965. In 1968, he completed his habilitation on the subject of "Composite materials in pressure vessel construction". From 1969 on he worked for BASF, where he was extremely successful in setting up a research group in the field of composite materials. In 1990 he was appointed managing director of the newly founded Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW GmbH). Step by step, with great success, he developed our institute into an important partner for industry and science. At the end of 2002 he left the institute to take his well-deserved retirement.

Professor Neitzel was the author and editor of several textbooks (including "Die Verarbeitungstechnik der Faser-Kunststoff-Verbunde" and "Handbuch Verbundwerkstoffe") and numerous international scientific publications in the field of fiber composites. He contributed to teaching at the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering with his own lectures on plastics and composites. At IVW, he successfully built up the area of Manufacturing Science and placed particular emphasis on the promising field of thermoplastic fiber composites as well as on corresponding industrial cooperations for technology transfer. He guided numerous scientific employees, who today work in leading positions in industry and science, to their doctorates.

Professor Neitzel received the highest award of the state, the Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, for his services to the establishment and further development of IVW. This was presented to him on November 20, 2002 in Mainz by the then Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Kurt Beck.

Through his creative energy, his positive basic attitude, his great skill in shaping national and international networks, his desire for friendship and cooperation, his leadership and, above all, his special talent for motivating people who were entrusted to his care, he shaped our company from the very beginning and laid the foundations of our success. We remember him with great appreciation and gratitude.