Klaus Grohe, the long-running head of Hansgrohe Group and the honorary chairman of its advisory board, has passed away at the age of 88.
Klaus was the youngest and third son of company founder Hans Grohe, and passed away on January 3, 2026. He was born in 1937, in Aachen, Germany, and first joined the company in 1968 after studying business and economics in Bern, Switzerland.
The company said Klaus “shaped the destiny” of Hansgrohe for almost five decades, starting by working as its head of sales, then becoming managing partner. From 1999, he worked as chairman of its executive board, and then from 2008 to 2015, as the chairman of the supervisory board.
Hansgrohe said he had a particular passion for innovative products with outstanding design, and he “loved perfecting showers and faucets down to the smallest detail”. The company said he also understood the importance of marketing high quality products effectively and internationally, paving the way for the success of both the Hansgrohe and Axor brands.
“With Klaus Grohe, we are losing a pioneer who, until the very end, followed Hansgrohe’s development with great interest and commitment as honorary chairman of our supervisory board,” commented Hans Juergen Kalmbach, the chairman of Hansgrohe’s executive board.
“He laid the foundation for the global success of our Group and decisively shaped Hansgrohe’s DNA. We are deeply grateful to him and will miss his advice and guidance. His principles and his passion for Hansgrohe will remain forever embedded in the company and in all our minds. All employees, the Executive Board, the Supervisory Board, and our shareholder Masco Corporation mourn his passing and extend their heartfelt condolences to his family.”
Richard Grohe – Klaus Grohe’s eldest son – a member of the supervisory board of Hansgrohe SE and managing director of Syngroh Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, added: “Klaus leaves behind a human and entrepreneurial legacy of immeasurable depth. When he took over the leadership of Hansgrohe in 1975, he reinvented the family business from the ground up and transformed it into a company of a scale no one could have imagined at the time.
“In doing so, he brought prosperity not only to the region but to many other places around the world. He built a large family and successfully taught us how to keep it together—across personalities, generations, and borders. Integrity and values were not only principles he lived by but also passed on. His inspiration and entrepreneurial achievements will endure for generations. We accept his legacy and commit to preserving it.”