| 5 Jul 2001 - Carmen Bucher Wirth, owner of the world-famous Hassler
Hotel, died Wednesday June 27th in a Rome hospital.. She was 88 years old.
A member of one of Europe�s most prominent Swiss hotel families, Mrs.
Wirth was educated in New York City and Geneva, Switzerland, where she
earned a degree in international law. When her husband, hotelier Oscar
Wirth, died in 1968, leaving her with two young boys, she immediately drew
upon her inherited aptitude for the hotel business and concentrated on
making the Hassler the great hotel it is today. �I want people to feel
at home here in every way,� she was often heard to say.
| Over the years,
she quietly and effectively communicated that feeling to a staff that was
eager to please their leader. Her business insight and friendly personality
made her a favorite with notables from all walks of life, who called the
Hassler �home�.
She received numerous commendations from various hotel and travel associations
around the world. In 1992 she was elected by Hotels Magazine as the first
female �Independent Hotelier of the Year�.
In the latter part of the nineties, she turned over the administration
of the Hassler to her Cornell educated son, Roberto, who as President and
General Manager, continues the fine art of hospitality that the Wirth family
has acquired over more than a century. Another son, Peter, also a Cornell
graduate, is a successful international hotel consultant specializing in
independent properties. Carmen Wirth took great pride in the abilities
of her sons, seeing in them the continuance of the Bucher-Durrer-Wirth
family hotel heritage.
|
Hassler Hotel has been owned
by the Swiss Wirth family
for over a century
Trinita dei Monti, 6
00187 ROME
|
|
In addition to her sons, Carmen Wirth is survived by her twin-sister, Mercedes
Bowman in Rome, a brother, Robert Bucher in Geneva, and five grandchildren. |
