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Dietramszell says goodbye to Dr. Ulrich Gruber

2021-08-29T04:12:20.868Z


Dr. Ulrich Gruber's passion was nature, especially amphibians as well as the land and people of the Himalayas. Now the popular zoologist has passed away.


Dr.

Ulrich Gruber's passion was nature, especially amphibians as well as the land and people of the Himalayas.

Now the popular zoologist has passed away.

Dietramszell

- Hayagriva, a scowling deity, is enthroned above Ulrich Gruber's study and is supposed to keep all evil away. It comes from Buddhism, which until the end determined the actions of the well-known zoologist and long-standing local council. “He was turned towards all living beings,” says his widow Margarete Gruber. On July 20, the man, whose objectivity and friendliness was valued everywhere, died at the age of 89 in his house on Ostener Strasse.

The Berlin native was particularly passionate about amphibians, some of which he kept at home. After completing his doctorate on the alpine bank voles - written on Innsbruck's local mountain, the Patscherkofel - Gruber headed the herpetology section at the Zoological State Collection in Munich from 1971 to 1997, which is dedicated to the research of amphibians and reptiles. During his time, the huge collection with millions of exhibits moved from Nymphenburg Palace to the new building on Münchhausenstrasse. He was one of the first in the district to collect toads in order to carry them safely across the streets to their spawning grounds. He did that well into old age.

His love for Tibet and Buddhism was awakened when he stayed there for almost a year and a half. His godfather, the well-known mountaineer Ulrich Wieland, had a fatal accident while climbing Nanga Parbat in 1934. In the early 1960s, the cartographer of the then expedition, Erwin Schneider, approached Gruber and asked him if he would like to accompany him to Tibet. Without hesitation, he said yes - a crucial moment in his life.

The father of three toured Asia dozens of times in the decades that followed. Gruber led tour groups and penetrated previously unknown areas. He wrote several books ("In the valleys of the Nepal-Himalaya"), gave lectures (for example in the Lenbachhaus in Munich) and founded the association "The Friends of Nepal", which he headed for years. In addition to his two biological sons, he also adopted a girl from Tibet, Dolma.

When it became known in the 1980s that a landfill was to be built in the Zellbachtal - a species-rich moor east of Bairawies - Gruber founded the "Schutzgemeinschaft Zellbachtal" in 1984. He not only got the farmers on his side, but also knew how to convince the decision-makers with his style. "He was an absolute personality," remembers Erich Hofmann from the State Association for Bird Protection, which now looks after large parts of the area. In 2002 the moor was placed under nature protection.

Gruber was a member of the Dietramszell municipal council for twelve years.

Here, too, his businesslike, friendly manner was well received.

When discussions threatened to slip away, he used to say: "I have a question of understanding ..." In an instant, the mood calmed down again.

“He was a role model and a good friend for me,” says the Green Party Councilor Hubert Prömmer, recalling his party colleague.

Ulrich Gruber found his final resting place in the Dietramszell burial forest, under a beech tree that he and his wife had chosen the year before.

On the day of the burial, the butterflies danced around the tree.

To go back to nature like this: he would have liked it.

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-08-29

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