Our history

Andreas J. Rottendorf was born on 10 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 care-free childhood on the farm and in the surrounding nature. His love to his home and its people was always expressed in his 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. The advancement of this company was destroyed by bombs in the Second World War. Rottendorf started rebuilding a chemical-pharmaceutical factory in Ennigerloh from scratch in 1949, which became known as „Rottendorf Pharma“ over time. The successful entrepreneur Andreas J. Rottendorf never gave up on his propensity to write down his thoughts, experiences and insights in High and Low German and publish them in the „Glocke“ and in small publications, all in his own publishing company that he called „contra torrentem“ (against the tide). In July 2006, Ulrich Kunz wrote in the Westphalian folcloristic 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 20 November 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. Following a fire in 1993, where the majority of the building was damaged, a new production building was built by 1996. In 2002, a second location for the packaging segment was erected in Ennigerloh. In 2009 this was followed by the construction of a new development and up-scaling centre at the headquarters of the company. In 2011, Rottendorf Pharma Inc. was founded, with its headquarters in Chicago then. It moved to Bozeman, MT, beginning of 2017.

"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."

Ulrich Kunz