Mourning for Honorary Professor Heinrich Reincke
2023-05-10 Lüneburg. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Dr Heinrich Reincke passed away on 25 April this year at the age of 74. He had been an honorary professor since 1994, first at the University of Applied Sciences of North-East Lower Saxony, Buxtehude site, and after the merger of the Lüneburg higher education institutes at the University Lüneburg.
After studying civil engineering in Buxtehude and Hanover, Heinrich Reincke worked for the Lüneburg district government and the Stade Water Management Office, later heading the Elbe water quality office, during which time he also rendered outstanding services to the Lower Saxony Elbe Silt Forum, among others, with his great expertise. In 2004 Reincke moved to the Hamburg Senate Chancellery, where he worked for many years as a moderator for, among other things, the fairway adaptation of the Elbe under three different First Mayors in the Hanseatic city.
In 2011 Reincke was elected to the full-time board of the Elbe Habitat Foundation, which was set up to improve the ecological situation of the Tidal Elbe. He held this office for two years until his retirement. For many decades Reincke was intensively involved with his "friend Elbe" and worked passionately and with great negotiating skills to improve the ecological status of the watercourse.
In recent years, Heinrich Reincke has supervised bachelor's and master's theses at Leuphana in his capacity as honorary chairman of the Kehdingen Water Maintenance Association, primarily in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Thomas Schomerus. The topics dealt with, such as dike relocation, salinisation of ditches due to the deepening of the Elbe or the use of wind energy for the operation of drainage pumps, were always practice-oriented. He was very popular with the students because of his friendly manner and his North German humour.
Leuphana will honour Heinrich Reinckes' memory. Our sympathy as a university community goes out to his family, relatives and friends.