It is with deep sadness and great respect that we bid farewell to Prof. Dr. Lothar Schneider, who passed away on 24 January 2024 at the age of 87. Prof Dr Schneider leaves behind an impressive academic legacy that will stay with us for a long time to come.

Prof. Dr. Schneider was born on 7 April 1937 in Stöblitz near Cottbus. After studying economics at the Universities of Hamburg and Göttingen, he completed his doctoral dissertation on "Workers' households in the 18th and 19th centuries, illustrated by home and industrial workers" under Erich Egner in 1966. During his time in Göttingen as an assistant to Erich Egner, Lothar Schneider was the first managing director of the DGH expert committee on structural change in the domestic economy, which was founded by Egner. He himself was the founder and first chairman of the DGH's advisory committee. After working as an assistant to Helga Schmucker at the Institute for Household Economics and Consumer Research in 1966 and 1967, Lothar Schneider moved into the private sector. From 1968 to 1973, he worked at the Westag advertising agency in Cologne and designed advertising campaigns for various state and federal ministries, among others. During this time, he took up a teaching position at the University of Education Rhineland, Aachen department. He then became a professor there in 1974 for the subject area of "Household Science", specialising in the economics of the household. It was here that Lothar Schneider developed one of his main areas of specialisation, namely consumer education in the context of teaching at primary and lower secondary schools.

On 1 April 1980, he took up a professorship at the University of Wuppertal, where he was also promoted from student professor to full professor. At the same time, he completed the Aachen degree programme, which was being phased out, by the winter semester of 1981/82.

In 1983, university locations in North Rhine-Westphalia were merged and degree programmes closed, which also affected the Wuppertal location. In 1983, Lothar Schneider came to the Paderborn University as the successor to Professor Rehermann. There he continued to build up the Home Economics teacher training programme together with the nutritionist Prof. Dr. Roland Bitsch, who was appointed at the same time, and the Academic Senior Councillor Dr. Barbara Fegebank.

Lothar Schneider organised specialist conferences and teacher training courses, was a member of curriculum commissions in the 1980s, co-authored textbooks from 1981 to 1985 and implemented distance learning courses in teacher training from 1979 to 1981 and 1993 to 1995 together with colleagues from Paderborn. His main areas of academic work were consumer behaviour and the environment and sustainability in the context of household science. During his active time as a university lecturer, he initiated numerous projects on the ethics of environmental action, environmental awareness and behaviour, environmental consulting, sustainable management, Local Agenda 21, the development of communication concepts and media in the health and environmental sector.

In 2001, Lothar Schneider retired with the firm intention of spending more time with his wife Elinor on his beloved holiday island of Corsica. After 2001, he remained true to his work as a managing partner of "ifep Kommunikationsforschung GmbH", Cologne, and as a member of the board of the Institute for Empirical Psychology and Social Research e.V., Cologne, as well as an active partner in the "Kolleg für Management und Gestaltung nachhaltiger Entwicklung gGmbH", Berlin. However, he also experienced serious setbacks, as the aforementioned institutes had to file for bankruptcy and Lothar Schneider had to accept partial liability with his personal assets.

In 2004, he was elected chairman of a newly founded advisory board of the NRW consumer advice centre until 2010. Lothar Schneider published 35 books, around 100 articles, project reports, teaching materials, media systems, scripts and CD-ROMs.

Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife Elinor and his children Corinne and Stefan, who have lost a loving husband and father in him. We will always remember Prof. Dr. Lothar Schneider with gratitude and honour his memory.

Paderborn, 16 July 2024

Prof. Dr. Kirsten Schlegel-MatthiesProf. Dr Helmut Heseker