The chairman of the SEKEM Freunde Deutschland association, Dr. Roland Schaette, passed away on March 21 at the age of 79.
Due to illness, Roland Schaette’s strength had diminished more and more over the past months. However, he was always confident and fought bravely for his recovery. His major wish to travel to SEKEM once again for this year’s Spring Festival on March 24 could not be fulfilled in this life on earth anymore. Still, the SEKEM community is firmly convinced that Roland will be present in another way and has therefore decided to dedicate this year’s festival to the good SEKEM friend Roland, SEKEM CEO Helmy Abouleish announced.
For many years, Roland Schaette was managing director of the company “Dr. Schaette” for organic animal medicines and he was co-founder of the SEKEM company ATOS Pharma. He accompanied the SEKEM initiative closely since 1982 and cultivated a close friendship with the founder Ibrahim Abouleish. In 2001, Roland Schaette became chairman of the association of the SEKEM Friends Germany.
As a pharmacist and anthroposophist, he was particularly interested in Goetheanism. The combination of science and humanities was a special concern for Roland Schaette and characterized him both as an entrepreneur and as an individual. His competence and deep connectedness to the SEKEM vision will be greatly missed by the SEKEM Initiative and the SEKEM Friends Germany. However, many significant impulses that arose from his spirit will continue to accompany the development of SEKEM in Egypt as well as in Germany for a long time and will keep the memories of Roland Schaette alive.