Former Metro and Karstadt boss Wolfgang Urban is dead. The trade manager died on Monday at the age of 80, a spokeswoman for the family in Rheinberg on the Lower Rhine told the German Press Agency.
Urban began his career in 1973 as a commercial employee at the Cologne Kaufhof. In 1995 he became spokesman for the board of Kaufhof Holding, where he initiated a profound restructuring. A year later he rose further and joined the board of Kaufhof parent Metro as co-spokesman. After the merger of Karstadt and Quelle, he was CEO of the Essen-based trading group from 2000 to 2004.
Urban was the partner of the dressage rider and eight-time Olympic champion Isabell Werth. The couple has a son together.