ZBW mourns the loss of its former director, Horst Thomsen
The ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics mourns the loss of its long-serving Director, Horst Thomsen, who passed away in Flensburg on 6 October 2026 at the age of 80. He headed the ZBW from 1992 to 2009 and, during this time, laid the groundwork for its development into an independent, supra-regional information infrastructure.
Horst Thomsen was born in Flensburg on 30 August 1946. After completing his studies in economics, he joined the library of the Institute for the World Economy in Kiel as a research assistant in 1973, and remained closely associated with the institute until his retirement. When he took over as its director in 1992, he had already been familiar with the organisation and its remit for almost two decades.
During his 17-year tenure, Horst Thomsen played a key role in shaping the strategic and structural development of the ZBW. He drove forward the digitisation of the library’s collections, which was already underway, and placed greater emphasis on networking and collaboration with other academic information institutions.
One of his most significant achievements was securing the ZBW’s organisational independence and merging it with the library of the Hamburg World Economic Archive (HWWA). On 1 January 2007, the ZBW was separated from the Institute for World Economics and re-established as an independent foundation under public law with sites in Kiel and Hamburg. In doing so, Horst Thomsen laid the essential structural foundations for the ZBW’s further development.
With the passing of Horst Thomsen, the ZBW has lost a figure who accompanied and played a decisive role in shaping its history for more than three decades. The ZBW will honour his memory and remain grateful for his work. Our thoughts are with his family and all those close to him.
