Helmut Claas, the long-time managing director, chairman of the Supervisory Board and chairman of the Shareholders' Committee of the Claas group and one of agricultural engineering’s most significant businessmen, died on January 5 at the age of 94.

In an official statement, the Claas Group said, "His death has come as a great shock. Along with the family and all of the relatives, not only are well over 11,000 employees around the world mourning, but so too is an entire industry which, in Helmut Claas, has lost a significant European business personality."

Helmut Claas was born in 1926 in Harsewinkel. His parents, August and Paula Claas, managed a small agricultural machinery firm with a workforce of around 100. He completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter after graduating from school. Practical experience followed in metalworking firms, and further practical training in casting. After a complementary study of agriculture in Paris, he took over the planning and establishment of a Claas distributor in France, which now operates as Claas France SAS. He joined his parents' family firm in Harsewinkel in 1958. Here he applied himself initially to his particular area of expertise, which was engineering.

In 1962 he was made managing director and in 1996, as part of the restructuring of the firm into a joint-stock company, he changed from the role to the position of chairman of both the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders’ Committee.

The company say his special focus was always on developing pioneering products and mass-producing them economically. During his era, following the success of the combine harvester model Dominator, came the completely new combine harvester construction the Lexion. Also, the Jaguar forage harvester and the large tractor Xerion were developed under Helmut Claas.

In 2003 he succeeded in taking an important step towards the company’s future: Claas took over the complete tractor business from Renault Agriculture in France. In other respects, too, internationalisation continued to progress with the establishment and expansion of production sites in Russia, the USA and China.

Helmut Claas had long since taken care of the ongoing development of the family business, as the next generation has already taken over the running of the Claas Group. Today his daughter, Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser, manages the decision-making and development of the group of companies.

The official statement concluded, "The death of Helmut Claas leaves behind a space in the world of agricultural technology that cannot be filled. His family, all the shareholders, the Group Executive Board, and the staff are mourning the passing of a great personality and will continue to develop the Claas Group as he would have wished."