The former publisher of the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ), Günther Grotkamp, is dead. He died on May 13 at the age of 96, as the Funke media group announced on Tuesday in Essen. Grotkamp is considered the architect of the media group. He was at the helm of the WAZ for more than 40 years.

In 1960, the business economist and lawyer joined the publishing house as legal advisor and personnel manager. He became the closest confidant of Jakob Funke, who had founded the WAZ together with Erich Brost in 1948. After Funke's death in 1975, Grotkamp took over his duties and became managing director of the WAZ.

Under his leadership, the publishing house has developed into one of the most important media groups in Germany, it said. He had brought the NRW newspapers NRZ, WP and WR into the publishing house and bought three Thuringian newspapers and the Braunschweiger Zeitung. In addition, there were numerous women's and TV magazines. "In doing so, he laid the foundation for today's Funke Media Group, which includes twelve daily newspapers, over 100 magazine titles, eleven radio stations and numerous service portals."

Even after his retirement, Günther Grotkamp remained closely associated with the publishing house. "He was the most important advisor to his wife Petra, the youngest daughter of Jakob Funke, and also actively participated in the unification of all company shares in the Funke family in 2012," the statement said.

The employees of the media group had appreciated him as a decisive and assertive boss and as a sensitive, modest and also fine-minded person. The media group pointed out in its statement that Grotkamp died on the day the company celebrated the 75th birthday of the WAZ. "I'm sure he would have liked this party."