A Fulbright scholar and a respected figure in the wine trade, flying to San Francisco for an event promoting German wines. He held degrees in viticulture and marketing from universities in Germany and from the University of California at Davis, and was responsible for the worldwide promotion of his country's wines. He left a wife and two children.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.