To our business partners: It is with great regret that we have to inform you that our senior partner, Mr Leonhard Weiß, has died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
The news came as a shock. Just three days before his death, Leonhard Weiß had been on a company outing in Munich with his staff. His son-in-law Werner Schmidt Sr. took on the task of informing customers and partners. Although the world of the bereaved came to a standstill in February 1938, one thing was clear: business had to continue. This was what Leonhard Weiß would have wanted.
As the company has experienced specialists on the technical side and the technical and commercial management is in the hands of the undersigned, we can assure all our business partners and customers that the orders placed with our company will continue to be fulfilled to the highest standards. We ask you to continue to place the same trust in our company as you did in our late senior partner, Mr Leonhard Weiß.
But who will fill the gap left by the founder? His son Walter Weiss is only in his early twenties and about to begin his studies at the Staatliche Baugewerkeschule. Leonhard Weiß's widow was therefore to join the management team alongside his son-in-law, Werner Schmidt Sr, who had been closely involved in the operational side of the business for four years and had made a significant contribution to building up the administration. Ottilie Weiß was now not only the head of the family, but also an experienced businesswoman who had already steered the company through the First World War. However, a number of things have to be sorted out before the new dual leadership can be implemented.
As Leonhard Weiß had previously run the company as sole owner, a limited partnership was set up. Ottilie Weiß and Werner Schmidt senior become general partners. Son Walter Weiss is initially a limited partner. After completing his studies, he was also to become a general partner, but it would be another 17 years before the partnership agreement drawn up in 1939 was amended accordingly. In the same year, Walter Weiss had to go to war. And the question of who would ultimately run the company was put on the back burner.
The first priority was to ensure the survival of the company. Some employees were also called up and did not return. Thanks to the Reichsbahn, LEONHARD WEISS had contracts in various places, such as Ravensburg, but also in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg and in the Stuttgart area, as the Crailsheim branch had been founded back in 1938. But it was wartime and there was a shortage of workers everywhere.
In 1945, Walter Weiss returned after six years as an officer with the railway engineers. Ottilie Weiß retires from public life - and the question of leadership is raised again. Walter Weiss and Werner Schmidt Sr. find a cooperative solution: Werner Schmidt Sr. soon took over the management of the Crailsheim site, while Walter Weiss took over the management of the Göppingen site. Together they laid the foundations for the future success of the family business LEONHARD WEISS. And they succeed in continuing the company's legacy in the spirit of its founder, despite the difficult circumstances of the succession following the unexpected death of Leonhard Weiß and the turmoil of war.