Edmund Bradatsch, who with Paul Engel laid the foundation for BHS Corrugated Maschinen-und Anlagenbau GmbH in Weiherhammer, Germany, passed away on February 1, 2021, at 80 years old.
Bradatsch was born on December 19th, 1940, in Velenic (Gmünd, Czech Republic). His family moved to Upper Bavaria after the war and finally to Munich in 1956. At Krauss-Maffei AG in Munich, he completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and then went on to study mechanical engineering in Munich.
He was associated with the BHS company in Weiherhammer, where he worked in development, design, testing and technical sales. In 1990, he founded his own sales company with Paul Engel and in the middle of 1993 the two, Bradatsch and Engel, together with other shareholders, took over the BHS Weiherhammer company and incorporated it into today’s BHS Corrugated Maschinen-und Anlagenbau GmbH.
For seven-and-a-half years Bradatsch headed sales and technology at BHS Corrugated Maschinen-und Anlagenbau GmbH as managing director and shareholder. He had already withdrawn from the day to day operations and as a shareholder in 2003, but he continued to act in an advisory capacity for the current shareholders of BHS Corrugated. He has been a fatherly, reliable advisor to his partner’s sons, Christian and Lars Engel, over the years.
In 1999, he brought the “harvest of a busy life,” as he said himself at the time, into the Edmund Bradatsch Foundation. He and his wife Helga, who had no children of their own, wanted to give back to students. In doing so, he wanted to personally thank his own sponsors, who gave him the opportunity to study mechanical engineering at the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic as a young man. The purpose of the private foundation is to support students. It also aims to promote science at the universities in Regensburg, Amberg and Weiden. From 2000 to 2020, over 220,000 Euros was paid out to 152 students.
In 2017 Bradatsch was awarded honorary citizenship at the BHS Corrugated 300th anniversary celebration by the Weiherhammer community. In December 2020, he was able to celebrate his 80th birthday in good health and spirit at his residence in Weiden and the news of his death was unexpected. While extremely saddened by the loss it is with pride that we recall all the great accomplishments and impact Bradatsch had on BHS Corrugated, the lives of those of us who had the privilege of working with him, the countless customers who became friends, and all the students his foundation has touched.
