A widow and her son took over Schaeffler and made it a technology leader

When Dr.-Ing. E.h. Georg Schaeffler died in 1996, many observers doubted whether his widow Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler could rise to the challenge of leading the company he had built with his brother Wilhelm.

Maria-Elisabeth took the helm of the family business herself after her husband's death, rather than selling or handing control to outsiders. She was supported by her son Georg F.W. Schaeffler and by the company's management.

Over the following 25 years, with her son alongside her, she used technological, economic and social foresight to transform the former medium-sized company into a successful technology corporation.

The family business was preserved and company and family were treated as a unit by the founders, which inspired the heirs to keep the Schaeffler ownership and values intact through the transition.

Schaeffler grew from a medium-sized family firm into a global technology company, staying family-controlled through the transition.

The widow chose continuity and family control instead of selling the firm.

She relied on her son and on professional management rather than doing it alone.

Technological and economic foresight guided a shift from medium-size to global.

The founder's example—company and family as one unit—sustained the heirs' commitment.

A family member suddenly thrust into leadership can keep a firm strong by pairing the founder's values with professional management and a focus on technology.

Schaeffler grew into a leading global automotive and industrial supplier while remaining family-controlled. Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler was later recognized as one of Germany's wealthiest businesswomen, and the succession is cited as a model of a widow-and-son team preserving a family firm after a founder's sudden death.