Global Fastener News

Fastener Industry Loses Bossard in Plane Crash

John Wolz

Bossard Group CEO Heinrich Bossard was killed in a plane crash during a holiday trip to New Zealand. His wife, Silvia, and the pilot were injured but survived the crash.
The New Zealand Press Association reported the pilot and Silvia Bossard were found alive on the beach after the small plane hit surf at Cable Bay beach December 15, 2004. Heinrich better known as Henry reportedly was stuck inside the plane and died at the scene.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Some reports mentioned bad weather at the time.
Z�g, Switzerland-based Bossard Group is an international supplier of metric fasteners.
It was the second tragedy in three years for the family with seven generations in business. In 2001 Henry”s brother Peter Bossard, an elected official of Z�g, was one of 14 people killed in an armed attack in the parliament building.
In a 2002 interview with FIN at the headquarters in Switzerland, Henry Bossard explained the company philosophy of not looking “left and right at the competition, we look at the customer. We are thinking of what the customer needs. How can you help customers become more competitive with fasteners?”
The Bossard family traces the name back to 1450 and the family business to 1789 in silk importing. Bossard Group considers 1831 the founding date of the hardware business. Initially the Bossard family was in the hardware business, supplying the professional trades with tools, screws, wires and bolts.
After World War II Henry Bossard”s father, Walter Bossard, and uncle, Carl Bossard, expanded the local hardware business to a regional supplier of fittings, fasteners and steel. The steel business was later spun off.
Bossard is a global company of 1,300 employees with European, U.S. and Asia/Pacific divisions.
Henry Bossard”s son, Daniel Bossard, and nephew, Beat Grob, are the seventh generation in the company. \ �2004 FastenerNews.com