22nd May 2021

In memory of Richard Landl
In memory of Richard Landl
* 23 August 1943 — † 22 May 2021

On the 22nd of May 2021, our pres­i­dent, Richard Landl, crossed the thresh­old of death. He led the board of ECSWE in a gen­tle, warm-heart­ed, coop­er­a­tive, and wise man­ner for more than 8 years. He mas­tered the art of “lead­ing from behind”, act­ing and not forc­ing; a pres­i­den­cy with dig­ni­ty. He had a keen eye for effi­cien­cy and prac­ti­cal solu­tions as well as a focus on altru­is­tic goals and the greater pur­pose. He com­bined this knowl­edge and wis­dom with an open mind for peo­ple as well as for new ideas. Wher­ev­er the Euro­pean Coun­cil met, he com­bined meet­ings with class­room visits.

He always stressed the fact that our organ­i­sa­tion works pri­mar­i­ly for the sake of pupils and teach­ers in the Stein­er Wal­dorf schools. He was often invit­ed by our mem­ber asso­ci­a­tions to work with teach­ers, school lead­ers, or even with politi­cians, and left a last­ing impres­sion.  Richard put his heart into the work of ECSWE and until our last online meet­ing day, on the 15th of May, he was deeply engaged in ECSWE’s work. That his pass­ing coin­cides with Pen­te­cost is fit­ting to the cos­mopoli­tan per­son­al­i­ty he was.

We can hon­our his lega­cy by con­tin­u­ing to work out of the spir­it of renew­al and future-ori­ent­ed devel­op­ment which Richard clear­ly saw as the most impor­tant task for the Wal­dorf move­ment in Europe. He gave many impor­tant impuls­es to build on for the future devel­op­ment of our organisation.

We will do our best to hon­our his lega­cy for ECSWE.

In deep sym­pa­thy with his relatives,

The mem­bers of the Euro­pean Coun­cil for Stein­er Wal­dorf Education

Let­ters of con­do­lence can be sent to [email protected]