The KÖVET Association announced with deep sorrow the passing of Dr. Georg Winter, whose vision, consistent professional presence and – in the beginning – concrete financial support were essential for the organization to become stronger in Hungary and three has been shaping sustainability thinking in the corporate sector for decades.
He didn’t just talk about it: he “tested” the method in his own company
According to the KÖVET commemoration, Dr. Winter was not just a theoretical expert: he experimented with the practice of environmentally conscious corporate management in his own company long before the ISO 14001 standard was published. In his view, companies can only be successful in the long term if they take environmental and social impacts into account in their operations.
The announcement also recalls that Dr. Winter “did not know compromise”: because he was convinced that no industrial company could be perfectly sustainable, he sold the prosperous company owned by his family for four generations and distributed part of the proceeds among the employees.
He was also there at the Hungarian beginnings – during the most critical period
KÖVET emphasizes that in the mid-1990s, when the organization was still a “promising seedling”, Dr. Winter’s role went beyond consulting. During the most difficult initial phase, he contributed with practical and financial support to the association’s successful implementation of the first major applications – this trust and encouragement, according to KÖVET, was decisive in the stabilization and subsequent development path.
Lifetime Achievement Award for Continuing the Legacy
KÖVET launched the Dr. Georg Winter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, which aims to recognize those professional figures in Hungary who continue Dr. Winter’s intellectual legacy. Over the years, the award has been received by, among others, Dr. Tamás Kemény, Prof. Dr. Sándor Kerekes, Vilmos Civin, Dr. István Debreczeny, Erzsébet Ódor, Tamás Horváth, posthumously László Vagdalt, Gábor Réti, and then, at the 30th anniversary conference of KÖVET, Prof. Dr. Gergely Tóth.
International shaper of the sustainability discourse
According to the commemoration, Dr. Winter’s work “goes far beyond a single organization or project”: he introduced values into corporate thinking – ethical foundations, long-term responsibility, a systemic approach – that have become defining elements of the international discourse on responsible corporate governance. In the last decade of his life, according to the statement, he became a committed supporter of biocracies, which would extend the principle of equal treatment to all living beings.
The KÖVET Association’s farewell also paints a personal picture of him: as a father of five, as an artistic pianist, and as a person who served the community with his poems and the development of “rapid poetry” (Sprechsport).
According to the organization, Dr. Georg Winter’s legacy is “indivisible rich” and will remain with them in their daily operations, thinking, and steps taken for future generations.
