CommemorationMourning for former Rector Peter Ulmer
Heidelberg University mourns the loss of its former Rector Prof. Dr Peter Ulmer: The 745th Rector of Ruperto Carola, during whose term of office the alumni work began, passed away on 17 January 2024 at the age of 91. The legal scholar held the office from 1991 to 1997 and rendered great services to the further development of Ruperto Carola.
In the position of Rector, to which he was elected twice, Prof. Ulmer successfully led his alma mater, which was particularly outstanding in research, for a total of six years and served as chairman of the Baden-Württemberg rectors' conference from 1994 to 1996. “In Peter Ulmer, Heidelberg University has lost an outstanding researcher and impressive university lecturer, whose personality and commitment also had a formative effect on academic self-administration. We will honour his memory,” said University Rector Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior.
Rector Ulmer's term of office also saw the launch of Heidelberg Alumni International (HAI), which was founded in 1996 as one of the first alumni networks at a German university and was initially only aimed at foreign alumni. HAI was initially set up in cooperation with the "Verein der Freunde der Universität Heidelberg e.V.", the predecessor of today's “Gesellschaft der Freunde Universität Heidelberg e.V.” (GdF), which had been in existence since 1948 and was inactive at the time. However, such an association, which also required foreign members to become members, ultimately proved to be impracticable, as at the time transfers from abroad were too costly for the association's membership fees. However, Peter Ulmer's commitment to the Friends of the University was a lasting success: "I'm not exaggerating when I say that without him, the "Universitätsfreunde" might no longer exist as an organization today. We have a lot to thank him for," explained GdF Chairman PD Dr Thorsten Helm.
Appointed Director of the Institute for German and European Company and Economic Law at the Faculty of Law in 1975, Prof. Ulmer taught and researched at Heidelberg University until his retirement in 2001. He had previously studied law in Tübingen, Geneva (Switzerland), Ann Arbor (USA) and Heidelberg, where he also completed his doctorate and habilitation at Ruperto Carola. After working as a lawyer in Stuttgart and Frankfurt as well as in the Legal Service of the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels (Belgium), he initially worked as a professor at the University of Hamburg before returning to Heidelberg. Prof. Ulmer conducted research in particular on the law of general terms and conditions as well as on central issues of commercial, corporate and business law, received numerous recognitions from Germany and abroad and continued to provide groundbreaking impulses in research after his retirement. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1976/1977.
