Siegfried Ratai died

Siegfried Ratai died on the night of last Sunday at the age of 79. As a long-time bank manager and chairman of the retailers’ advertising community, he was a driver of Lohr’s economic development after the loss of the district seat. His social commitment was expressed, among other things, in the Lions Club, the local group of which he co-founded Lohr-Marktheidenfeld.

The son of Prussian parents, Ratai was born in Wrzburg. In the cathedral city, he trained as a banker and qualified as a banking specialist. He came to Lohr in mid-1973 when he was given management of the recently opened branch of the Bayerische Vereinsbank on Hauptstrae.

Before that, he worked for five years after special training as a sales trainer for bank clerks in Bavaria and the former Bavarian Palatinate, before applying for the vacant position in Lohr. The timing was extremely bad, because after the district seat decision in favor of Karlstadt, the mood in Lohr was very depressed.

Move people to Lohr

Ratai didn’t get discouraged. He co-founded the advertising community and set about building up, initially as a secretary and press officer, and from the mid-1970s on as a chairman. He led the union of the local retailers until 1986. The spring and rambour festivals were held by him to attract people to Lohr.

In the mid-1970s, the Lohr-aktiv-Show, the forerunner of the Main Spessart exhibition / MSP-Expo, was added in cooperation with the trade association. Ratai worked for 14 years at the Vereinsbank in Lohr before moving to the Bavarian Insurance Chamber in the real estate sector, where he stayed until early retirement.

Ratai also took responsibility for his adopted home elsewhere. So he managed the tourist office, the association of room owners and the area traffic watch. He was also taken with the history of Lohr. In 1979 he published the illustrated book “Lohr am Main in old views”, of which 5000 copies were sold. More major and minor publications followed.

Siegfried Ratai was involved in the Protestant church as a sermon officer, member of the church council and since 2002 as a pastoral care center for the elderly. Known for his eloquence, he had numerous assignments as a preacher in Lohr and the Protestant deanery.

He founded the Christian Young People’s Association (CVJM) as well as the Lions Club Lohr-Marktheidenfeld in 1976, of which he was president in 1979/80. Ratai had been with Walburga, née Noisy, married, with whom he had two daughters.

At the father’s grave

An important personal concern for him only came true after his 70th birthday. Decades after his father’s death in February 1944, he stood at his grave in the military cemetery in Sevastopol in Crimea.

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• Lohr

• Bank clerks and bank clerks

• Bavarian Association Bank

• CVJM

• Retailers

• parents

• Protestant church

• Real estate

• Churches and main organizations of individual religions

• Lions club

• preacher

• social commitment

• Chair of organizations and institutions

• Vter

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