The development of business informatics as a discipline in the German-speaking world is inextricably linked to Lutz Jürgen Heinrich. On June 27, the university professor died at the age of 87 surrounded by his family.
Lutz Jürgen Heinrich was born in Guben on the German-Polish border in 1936, but he could never look back on a carefree childhood because of the Second World War. After his father returned from English captivity, he opened a medical practice in the east and the family gave up the previously hatched escape plan to the west.
He passed the Abitur twice, because the so-called East Abitur was not recognized in the West. In 1955, Lutz Jürgen Heinrich finally decided to study industrial engineering at the Technical University of Berlin. In a letter of recommendation, his economics professor Alfred Kruse wrote: “I value Mr. Heinrich as a very serious and conscientious student who is fully worthy of support.”
Soon after his studies, Heinrich began his career at the university and initially took on various assistant positions at universities in Berlin and Karlsruhe, where he also held his first relevant lectures on business informatics.
Although he was on several appointment lists, Heinrich opted for the Johannes Kepler University, where he acted as the initiator of business and administration IT. In doing so, he set an important milestone for business informatics, which established itself as a key discipline of the 21st century.
He was always there to support his many students with his far-sightedness and expertise. Numerous executives in and outside of Upper Austria acquired their knowledge under university professor Heinrich. When he retired in 2004, he was honored with the Badge of Honor of the State of Upper Austria. In 2011 he was also appointed scientific consultant for his monograph “History of Business Informatics”.
With Lutz Jürgen Heinrich, the JKU and its social and economics faculty have lost a man whose work they can look back on with pride. The funeral service took place last Friday, July 8, in Gallneukirchen. The urn burial took place in the closest family circle.
Source: Nachrichten
