1943 - 2025
Urs Bühler graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). After holding a number of positions in Switzerland and abroad, he was appointed to the Corporate Management of Bühler AG in 1975, in charge of sales and development. From 1980 to 1984, he was President of Bühler GmbH, Braunschweig (Germany). In 1986, Urs Bühler was appointed CEO of Bühler in Uzwil, Switzerland. He handed over the executive management duties of the company to Calvin Grieder at the beginning of 2001. Urs Bühler was a Member of the Board from 1981, from 1991 as its Vice Chairman, and from 1994 to 2014 as its Chairman. He was also a member of the Board of several Swiss companies.
Urs Bühler passed away on August 1, 2025, at the age of 82. With his passing, Bühler loses a visionary entrepreneur who shaped the company’s internationalization, innovation journey, and long-term growth as a global technology group, while maintaining the values of a family company. During his tenure, Bühler entered a new era of international growth and innovation. His vision lives on in initiatives such as the CUBIC innovation campus and the Bühler Energy Center, which embody his commitment to shaping the future. Most importantly, the Urs Bühler Innovation Fund (UBIF), established in 2014, continues to carry forward his belief in driving innovation. By accelerating breakthrough technologies, developing ecosystems, and taking a mid- to long-term view, the UBIF ensures that Urs Bühler’s legacy of innovation will inspire and guide Bühler for generations to come.
Urs Bühler profoundly shaped the course of the company and set the foundation early on to ensure that it would remain a successful family-owned business for generations to come. His legacy is both an inspiration and a responsibility. We look back on a life driven by curiosity, guided by vision, and shaped by genuine humanity.
During the Bühler Networking Days in June 2025, more than 1,000 guests – customers, partners, and academics – created an unforgettable moment. As CEO Stefan Scheiber closed the event with words of thanks to Urs Bühler and his daughters, the audience spontaneously rose for a standing ovation. There could be no stronger expression of respect for what our company’s patron had built over the decades, and for how the next generation of owners is carrying his legacy forward. Regrettably, Urs passed away just weeks later, on August 1, 2025.
He was born in 1943 in Uzwil, where his family’s company took root in 1860. From an early age, it was clear that Urs not only had an engineer’s analytical mind; he also possessed a natural empathy that made him deeply attuned to both people and animals. His curiosity often drew him out of the classroom and into the woods or to the nearby factory, where he enjoyed many adventures. After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from ETH Zurich, Urs could have become a doctor or a pilot. But family came first – and in 1970, he joined the company. Urs hit the ground running when he started his career at the company. He quickly took on responsibility and proved himself a capable leader. Within just 5 years, he became a member of Bühler’s Executive Board. In 1980, he and his family moved to Braunschweig, Germany, to oversee the Bühler-MIAG production site and ensure the full integration of MIAG – the company’s strongest competitor in the milling industry – into Bühler. This was a vital assignment, since the acquisition of MIAG had secured Bühler’s position as the undisputed world market leader in milling.
However, in the years following the acquisition, the integration faced significant challenges. To optimize the organization, Urs recognized the need for restructuring – a move that led to an employee protest. Rather than turning against his workforce, he chose to listen to their concerns. He even joined the protest, marching alongside the employees on crutches due to an injury. This unconventional act of solidarity made a lasting impression and was the start of making the company fit for the future. After 5 successful years in Germany, he returned to Uzwil.
His warmth and empathy were not tools but genuine traits. He knew his customers by name, traveled to see them in person, and always listened attentively. Urs also never shied away from engaging with competitors, and it was precisely this openness that earned him respect and was never forgotten. The thousands of letters that arrived after his death – not only from friends but also from rivals – bear witness to the extraordinary esteem in which he was held.
When Urs took over as CEO from his father in 1986, he brought this experience with him to lead the company through the deep recession that Switzerland was experiencing in the 1990s. Urs sought solutions that were focused both on people and on the future. There were moments when he made decisions that required exceptional courage and resolve. In 1990, he bought out his cousin for a nine-figure sum, taking on personal debt to become the sole owner of the company. This meant liberation from complex ownership structures – a step into a future where he could act faster and drive growth.
Another turning point came in 2001, when he entrusted the CEO role to Calvin Grieder – the first leader in Bühler’s history not from the family. For a man whose name had been tied to the company for generations, this was a break from old thinking and a commitment to something greater. Urs knew that the well-being of the company mattered more than his personal status. He remained as Chairman of the Board, granting his successor full freedom as CEO. The trustful partnership between Urs Bühler and Calvin Grieder shaped the decades that followed.
Urs Bühler also planned the succession of ownership with great foresight and clarity. In 2014, he transferred his company shares to his three daughters, Karin, Maya, and Jeannine, securing the company’s future as a family business. It was a decision borne of a deep sense of responsibility for the company’s welfare and of trust that his children would carry forward the values he embodied.
Humility, humanity, respect, a spirit of innovation, empathy: these were the values that guided his leadership. He demonstrated that being a great leader does not mean being harsh, but rather acting with integrity, that even in difficult times, one must not lose the courage to invest in research and development. He stood for “innovations for a better world” long before “purpose” was a corporate buzzword.
His close relationships with people made Urs special. Whether at the village café enjoying a croissant or having lunch in the employee cafeteria in Uzwil, he genuinely enjoyed connecting with others. He was always a grounded person – at equestrian tournaments, he would even sweep up the horse manure after the competitions.
Along with humility, humor was at the heart of his character. “How many people work at Bühler?” he was once asked. “About half of them,” he jokingly replied. “We call the others managers.” The line quickly made the rounds – not only because it was witty, but because it captured Urs’ dry humor and his ability to laugh at himself. Another colleague recalled how, after a presentation full of complex calculations, Urs dryly remarked, “That’s surely correct – but please explain it again so that even my horses would understand.” The room erupted in laughter, and what followed was an open, relaxed discussion that quickly got to the essence of the issue.
That’s surely correct, but please explain it again so that even my horses would understand.
Urs Bühler,
Former CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Owner of Bühler
As calm and attentive as Urs was in conversation, he was equally passionate in his pursuits. Off-piste skiing, cross-country rides, risky safari moments: he sought adventure just as he sought the new as an entrepreneur. Once, in Canada, he was caught in an avalanche, buried, and rescued at the last minute. Barely freed, he joked about the torn-off tip of his cap – always guided by humor even in precarious situations. This mix of daring and composure gave him the lightness that fascinated so many.
Just as telling was his love of engineering. His legendary Audi Ro 80 – equipped with a twin-rotor Wankel rotary engine – served as both a rolling office and an expression of his joy in technical ingenuity. Considered one of the most technologically advanced cars of its time, it reflected his lifelong fascination with innovation and his appreciation for the beauty of precision engineering. Urs’ curiosity was never limited to machines. His entrepreneurial spirit, paired with an openness to new ideas, continued to drive him even after stepping down as CEO and entrusting the company to Calvin Grieder. He turned that same spirit of discovery toward a completely new field: kinesiology. What began with the healing of his horse led him to study, to explore, and eventually to found the Health Balance Animal Health Center and the Vital Quelle in Niederuzwil. In doing so, he united technology, empathy, and healing into a single vision.
He remained an experimenter at heart, exploring new methods and approaches right to the end – even delving into artificial intelligence, whose progress he followed with fascination, always asking himself: Can this help others?
His sense of wonder and engagement never faded. In the spring of 2025, he visited the newly opened Grain Innovation Center, celebrated a pizza making event with Italian customer Caputo, and he also attended the Networking Days in June – completely involved and enjoying being in the midst of it all.
When Urs Bühler passed away on August 1, 2025, a great and fulfilled life came to an end. Yet what continues to live on is his spirit. This is reflected in the close relations with customers that defines the company’s culture, in the courage to make decisions that open paths for future generations, in the foresight to hand over responsibility at the right moment, and in the conviction that humanity, sustainability, and innovation are not in conflict but belong together. Urs Bühler’s spirit endures as both a legacy and a guiding promise – for his family, for the company, and for all who believe in a better world.
