Passings: Dr. Otto Burkhardt

Dr. Otto Burkhardt, 87, on March 7 in Bayreuth, Germany. A second-generation family owner of the stone-machinery firm Burkhardt GmbH, Dr. Burkhardt joined the company in 1950 and assumed overall management in 1965. He served in that capacity until 2000, when his son Alexander Burkhardt took over sole managment.

During his term with the company, Dr. Burkhardt presided over the development of the world’s first automatic gridning machine (model 561), the acquistion of the Carl Meyer stone-processing-machine manufacturer in 1993, and the introduction of the world’s first mobile block wire saw (model 584).

He also servied for many years as president of Bayreuth’s chamber of commerce. A patron of the arts, Dr. Burkhardt also built one of the largest collections of Bayreuth’s famed earthenware (including faience, or tin-glazed pottery, and Creussen pitchers), which is on display at the Historisches Museum Bayreuth.