Turning 80: Rossmann founder still wonders whether to climb trees

Dirk Roßmann is turning 80, but he has not lost the urge to climb trees. The founder of the Rossmann drugstore chain joked that, at nearly 80, he should first check whether a tree is stable and whether someone below is waiting with a ladder. Whether he actually climbs one, he said, still has to be negotiated with his wife.

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But at almost eighty, perhaps one should first check whether the tree is stable enough and whether someone below is waiting with a ladder.

At 20 or 30, Roßmann said, the age of 80 seemed “about as far away as the moon.” Older people appeared to belong to another world. Now, he says, much remains surprisingly unchanged inside him. His curiosity and his enjoyment of people, books, conversations and unconventional ideas are still there. The difference is that his body reminds him more forcefully that time does not stand still.

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Curiosity is still there, as is the joy of people, books, conversations and crazy ideas.

Roßmann says he increasingly enjoys taking things slowly. For him, leisure begins when no clock is pressing. He and his wife sometimes spend weekends with a pile of newspapers and books. He also enjoys simply observing life in a café, while travelling or on a walk, saying that a surprising amount happens when people are not constantly rushing somewhere.

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I do not want to judge my life in the rear-view mirror.

He does not hold his younger self responsible for every wrong turn. He acknowledges that he became distracted and devoted energy to things that later proved less important, but says he does not want to judge his life by looking in the rear-view mirror. Detours, crises and apparently wasted time taught him something, he said. Today, he considers time with important people the priority. “Life is happening now.”

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Life is happening now.