Entrepreneur in spirit. Uri in heart.

If you have 1,000 employees in a region like Uri with a population of 35,000, and there is a whole family behind each of them, then you know what responsibility is.

Max Dätwyler, on the occasion of the company’s 100th anniversary in 2015

He has lived up to this responsibility his whole life and – together with his brother Peter – secured not only the continued existence of Datwyler as a company, but also the retention of jobs in the Swiss canton of Uri through a unique succession arrangement. The fact that he calls this the greatest achievement of his entrepreneurial career says a lot about Max Dätwyler as a person.

An Urner Away from Home

Max Dätwyler was born on January 29th, 1929, the second of three children of Adolf and Selina Dätwyler-Gamma in Altdorf, where he attended only elementary school. His parents then sent him to Trogen in Appenzell for secondary school. At the express request of his father, he then studied chemistry in Zurich and got his doctorate without much enthusiasm, but very successfully. At the same time he graduated as an economist and finally joined the family business. From 1961 he headed the Datwyler subsidiary Firestone in Pratteln, Basel-Landschaft.

Only at the age of 50 did Max Dätwyler return to the canton of Uri, where he quickly felt at home again and, most importantly, connected with artists and cultural creatives. He proved as early as 1965 just how close to his heart the small Swiss mountain canton had always been when the Dätwyler brothers donated the much-acclaimed illustrated book «Uri – Land am Gotthard» («Uri – country at the Gotthard») to the canton for the company’s 50th anniversary.

Difficult Legacy – Successful Entrepreneur

As an entrepreneur, Max Dätwyler took on a difficult legacy. Father Adolf Dätwyler was a shining light on the economic scene in Uri and demanded that his sons, Peter and Max, continue leading the company in his spirit. However, they could only guess what that was exactly. In 1958 they transformed Datwyler Inc. into a holding company, which ensured their survival as a group of companies, and shortly thereafter expanded abroad. In 1986, they listed Datwyler on the stock exchange. In 1990, they withdrew from operational management and secured the independence of the enterprise with a unique succession arrangement, for which they renounced substantial assets. Even then, the group had 3,500 employees and generated annual sales of CHF 700 million. By focusing on high-quality sealing components for the healthcare and automotive industries, the Dätwyler brothers laid a strong foundation for global expansion.

Max Dätwyler was a prudent and responsible entrepreneur for whom there was always something «beyond supply and demand,» as he still stresses today.

This culture of the family business continues to shape all of Datwyler’s decisions to this day and expresses itself in its values.

Paul Hälg, CEO from 2004 to 2016 and current Chairman of the Datwyler Group

Passionate Commitment

Since withdrawing from the operational business in 1990, it is above all his commitment to culture which is on Max Dätwyler’s mind. From his parents’ house, he made a home for the Uri Music School. He initiated and financed the Uri House of Art and the Danioth Pavillion, thereby opening to the public his huge collection of works by the great Uri artist Heinrich Danioth. The Dätwyler Foundation, founded by him and his brother Peter, today contributes significantly to Uri’s cultural life with its annual donations of CHF 0.5 to 1 million.

For his passionate commitment, he received the honorary citizenship of the Swiss canton of Uri in 2002, the Altdorf Medal of Honor in 2008 and the «Golden Bull of Uri» in December 2012. Max Dätwyler made his last major commitment on the occasion of Datwyler’s 100th anniversary in 2015: He initiated and provided support for the history of the company, «The Power Of The Unseen» (NZZ Publishing House). The philosophical title comes – not surprisingly – from himself.

Max Dätwyler died in Altdorf on 29 November 2020 in his 92nd year of age.

The Datwyler Group

In 1915, young Adolf Dätwyler from Aargau rescued from ruin the highly indebted wire and rubber works in Altdorf and led it to success with great entrepreneurial skill. By 1955, the industrial pioneer was already employing 1,200 people. After his death in 1958, his sons, Peter and Max Dätwyler, took over management of the booming company, which now included the Firestone factory in Pratteln BL, Stahlrohr AG Rothrist and Gummi Maag in Zurich, and expanded abroad. In 1990, they retired from operational management. Although today the Datwyler Group is a global industrial supplier with more than 6,500 employees worldwide, it still has its headquarters in Altdorf. With sales in more than 100 countries, Datwyler generates annual revenues of over CHF 1.0 billion.

The Dätwyler Foundation

In 1990, the Dätwyler Foundation was founded as a charitable foundation by majority shareholders Peter and Max Dätwyler as part of the succession arrangement for Dätwyler Holding Inc. It supports projects and institutions throughout Switzerland that have a geographical, thematic or personal connection to the canton of Uri or emanate from the canton of Uri. It supports charitable endeavors in the fields of art (architecture and traditions), education and training, health and sports, protection of cultural heritage, nature and environmental protection, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. The Dätwyler Foundation is not a corporate foundation; the company and foundation operate independently.