OUR HISTORY

Andreas J. Rottendorf was born on the 10th of October 1897 on his parent’s farm in the hamlet of Beesen in Ennigerloh. He was the only son of Heinrich Stefan Schulze Rottendorf and his wife Josefa Antoinette, born Wilke. Together with his younger sister, he enjoyed a carefree childhood on the farm and in the surrounding natural world. His love of his home and its people was always expressed in his writings, both Low German and High German texts. Rottendorf, who also enjoyed calling himself "Schulte Rottrup," studied in Muenster. Subsequently, he was a merchant in a chemical factory in Bueckeburg and founded a chemical-pharmaceutical company in Berlin in 1928. This company was destroyed by bombs in the Second World War. Rottendorf started building a new chemical-pharmaceutical factory in Ennigerloh in 1949, which became known as "Rottendorf Pharma“ over time. The successful entrepreneur Andreas J. Rottendorf never stopped writing his thoughts, experiences, and insights in High and Low German and published them in the "Glocke“ and other small publications. His own publishing company he called "Contra Torrentem“ (against the tide). In July 2006, Ulrich Kunz wrote in the Westphalian folkloristic homeland pages: "Rottendorf‘s knowledge of human nature and worldly wisdom, his clear view regarding the concerns and problems, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of his Westphalian compatriots, the accuracy of his expression, with surprising punch lines and humorous excursions, were very popular with his readers, especially then when he used Low German, the promotion of which was always a matter close to his heart.” He passed away on November 20, 1971 at the age of 74 years and was buried in Ennigerloh.

His wife continued with the business and subsequently transferred the company shares to a charitable foundation. When a majority of the production building was damaged in a fire in 1993, the company rebuilt and a new production facility was completed by 1996. In 2002, a separate facility for the packaging division was erected in Ennigerloh. In 2009 this was followed by the construction of a new development and up-scaling center at the headquarters of the company. In 2011, Rottendorf Pharma Inc. was founded in Chicago, Illinois. The US headquarters were relocated to Bozeman, Montana in 2017.