Boppard, Germany – 02 May 2016. It is with great sadness that Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG announces the death of its company founder Dr. med. Heinz Maurer. Dr. Maurer passed away in Boppard, Germany, on 22 April 2016 at the age of 94. He leaves a wife, three children and numerous grandchildren.
Dr. med. Maurer will be remembered for his successful and visionary management of the medium-sized company Sebapharma, based in Boppard - Bad Salzig, Germany, and internationally renowned for the medicinal cleansing and care products of the brand sebamed. In August 2010, the medical doctor transferred the presidency of this company to its long-term managing directors, his son Thomas Maurer and Dr. Rüdiger Mittendorff.
Visionary and pioneer: Dr. med. Heinz Maurer.
Based on the scientific insights that the skin surface is slightly acidic, as a young assistant physician at the University Hospital Bonn, Germany, Dr. med. Maurer tested the positive effects of acidic surfactants when washing on people with sensitive skin. Through the positive test results, Dr. med. Heinz Maurer came to the conclusion that alkaline cleansing products such as traditional soaps destroy the skin’s natural protection barrier. This was the start of many years of searching for cleansing and care products that could be adjusted to the natural pH value 5.5 of healthy skin.
In 1967, Dr. Maurer was able to successfully market his idea. The first “soap without soap”, a surfactant-based cleansing bar matching the skin’s natural, slightly acidic pH value of 5.5 went into production and became a recipe for success. Dr. Maurer’s medicinal product idea was met with great approval among dermatologists and enjoyed broad acceptance in pharmacies as it meant the lifting of the dreaded washing prohibition in connection with many skin diseases. Dr. med. Heinz Maurer thus created the medicinal skin cleansing and body care market.
True to the corporate philosophy “Science for healthy skin”, its own research and development department is an important mainstay in the continuous development of innovative products for medicinal skin and body care. In 1983, Dr. Maurer founded Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG, a separate marketing company combining the subsidiaries Herzpunkt Pharma, Maurer Pharma and Sebamat Chemie GmbH.
From the sebamed soap-free cleansing bar a complete skin and body care range has developed. Today Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG is at present a globally operating company which has around 200 employees and successfully markets more than 100 products in over 80 countries. The company management and all employees of Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG guarantee the continuation of Dr. med. Heinz Maurer’s life’s work.
Dedicated entrepreneur with a heart.
As the founder of Sebapharma, Dr. med. Heinz Maurer was deeply attached to the Boppard region, Germany, for many decades. Therefore, together with his family he regularly dedicated himself to cultural, social and economic projects in the Central Rhine Region and repeatedly supported the regional infrastructure with generous donations. Most recently for example at the start of 2016, when he donated a six-figure sum to the Central Rhine Community Hospital and the residential home Belgrano in Boppard, Germany, for the maintenance and restoration of individual departments.
(The funeral took place in the presence of the immediate family only.)