Karin Kettler, daughter of Heinz Kettler, the late founder and owner of the eponymous German sports and leisure equipment company, died earlier this month from injuries sustained in a car accident. She was 57 years old. She was a biologist who took the helm at Kettler in 2005, shortly before her father passed away. It was her brother who had been preparing for the leadership of the company, but he died in a car crash in 1981. Karin Kettler fought to make sure that the company would remain in family hands, but it struggled to compete in the last years, partly due to the costs of production in Germany. Kettler ended up filing for self-administered insolvency proceedings, from which it emerged in April last year, after job cuts and the sale of its bicycle business. Since the appointment of a new executive board last year, Katrin Kettler no longer had an operational function at the company. She was praised in German press report for her commitment to the company and its employees.

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