Former VGCT president dies
A recent president of the German Leather Technicians and Chemists Association (VGCT), Martin Heise, has died. He died on December 9 after a long period of illness.
Mr Heise spent his entire career in the leather industry and was a popular and well known figure across the sector. He had been the global product manager for wet-end leather chemicals at the Smit & Zoon group since the end of 2019, a role he took up after more than 20 years at Trumpler.
Earlier in his career he had spells at TFL, in raw materials buying at Naturin and at two tanneries: Bayern-Leder-GmbH (BLG) and, before that, Südleder, whom he joined immediately after finishing the leather technician course at Reutlingen in 1986.
He was elected as president of VGCT in 2016 and remained in office until after the successful 2019 IULTCS Congress in Dresden.
