Dr Horst Avenarius, BMW's long-time Head of Communications, Chairman of the German Council for Public Relations (DRPR) and lecturer at the University of Leipzig, celebrated his 90th birthday in Gauting on 26 August 2020. To mark the occasion, the Communication Management teaching department is looking back on his life's work and his connections to the University of Leipzig.
In his position as head of communications at BMW (1973-1989), Dr Avenarius was responsible for several examples of excellent strategic communication. But his contribution to the further development of PR ethics in Germany stands out as particularly outstanding: As acting chairman of the DRPR, he worked on cases for 16 years, produced advisory opinions and developed the DRPR guidelines from 1997 onwards. He never avoided intellectual disputes, for example in the Moritz Hunzinger case, whose understanding of PR was questioned by the Council and he was subsequently reprimanded. In addition to his involvement in the DRPR, Avenarius gave numerous guest lectures and talks at the University of Leipzig and discussed professional ethical standards in the PR field with students and colleagues. He published numerous papers on PR ethics, including two with Professor Dr Günter Bentele, Professor Emeritus of Public Relations/PR at the University of Leipzig.
It was not without reason that Professor Bentele paid tribute to the jubilarian Dr Avenarius in a laudation held in Gauting for his life's work as the first "sage of public relations" and presented him with a corresponding certificate. Through personalities like Horst Avenarius, "PR ethics" became an important and fundamental topic for science and practice. This was also confirmed by this year's European Communication Monitor, in which two out of three communicators stated that ethical challenges influence their daily professional practice.
All in all, Avenarius has helped the entire PR industry to a greater reputation through his life's work. The Communication Management Department congratulates on his 90th birthday.