Toni Meggle Passed Away

Dressage

Germany

Toni Meggle, a major German entrepreneur, dressage horse lover and sponsor, has passed away on 30 October 2025. He was 94 years old.

Diary Empire

Josef Anton "Toni" Meggle III was born on 12 May 1931 as the only son of Josef Anton Meggle II and his wife, bookkeeper Anna Wunderlich. At that time the Meggle family was already in its third generation of diary farming, then specialised in cheese production. In the 1930s the family began to expand its milk-to-butter production. During Wold War II the company relied on foreign workers to keep production going. In the 1950s the company underwent heavy industrialization.

After graduating from high school, Toni Meggle initially completed training to become a dairy master. He then acquired extensive knowledge in business management during his training as an industrial clerk at the Management Center Europe (MCE) in Brussels and, after completing his specialist training, began working in his father’s company in 1956.

Meggle Group

In 1960 Toni Meggle became a partner alongside his father and took over the sole company management in 1973.

Under his leadership, the company brought its world-famous products to market. Meggle invented the practical, portioned butter, which is now served by many airlines and in numerous hotels. In 1968 they commercialised herb butter, their best selling product to date. In 1995 they launched their second best-seller: the chilled herb baguette.

Meggle became a global dairy imperium with more than 2,500 employees which generate sales of EUR 1.5 billion. In 2019 Toni Meggle transferred his shares to a foundation. This ensured the continued existence and independence of the MEGGLE group of companies, because a foundation is designed to last forever and belongs to itself.

"n the foundation’s statutes, I expressly and irreversibly ordered that the company may not be sold," said Toni. "In this way, I ensure that the MEGGLE group of companies remains a medium-sized company with jobs in the long term."

Georgihof

In Wasserburg, Germany, Toni and his second wife Marina (née Ponater) own dressage stable Georgihof, a hotel with riding barn which they converted into their private farm in 2004.

The two have a deep passion for dressage and owned many high performance horses. While she had contact with horses from a very early age through her horse-loving parents, Toni was infected with the horse virus as a boy during hop harvest. Over the years, both became highly successful riders. Toni Meggle was a successful show jumper, dressage rider, and eventer, being tutored by Olympic champion Harald Momm. He became Bavarian reserve champion in eventing. Marina also competed successfully in show jumping and eventing up to the S-level and was trained by Rolf Bartels. The two met at the Munich Riding Academy and married in 1988.

Toni gifted Marina the Hanoverian Leonardo for her birthday and it was the first of a string of horses the pair bought.

The couple sponsored and employed dressage riders such as Dieter Laugks, Markus Gribbe, Hendrik Lochthowe, Matthias Bouten, Hannah Beaulieu, Virginie Gauthier, Ryan Torkkeli, Wibke Bruns, and Stefan Peter. Today the Spaniard Juan Rodriguez Carvajal is their head rider. The daily stable management is carried out by Stephan Plüm and Dodo Eichinger (ex Laugks).

Their most successful dressage horse was Weltall, which they bought from Martin Schaudt for Dieter Laugks to ride, but other international stars are Werthers Wels, Biagotti, Boston, Grimani, Fidelio Royal, Enzo's Erbe. They own Trakehner licensing champions Kaiser's Erbe (by Easy Game) and Kap Verde (by Helium).

Distinctions

Meggle was the year-long sponsor of the 5* Grand Prix Special at the CDIO Aachen. In 2025 the CHIO honoured Toni and Marina Meggle with the "Prize of the City of Aachen 2025” for their loyal and exceptional services.

Toni Meggle founded that "German Horse Sport Foundation," which intends to play an important role in ensuring that Germany continues to be perceived as a great and successful equestrian sports nation in the future.

For his commitment to the food industry and his social projects, Meggle received numerous honours and distinctions, including the First Class Federal Cross of Merit and the German Riders Cross in Silver from the German Equestrian Federation (FN) in 2022.

On his 75th birthday, Toni Meggle received an honorary citizenship from the city of Wasserburg and the Bavarian Order of Merit from Minister-President Edmund Stoiber.

Dieter Laugks told Eurodressage that Toni Meggle was "a unique personality for our sport and for the whole world. A personality, charm, character, empathy, a sense of responsibility. And a man with a great love for our sport. Not only did he take care of all his employees and create and preserve many jobs, he also took great pleasure in ensuring that all his horses and the people around him were well cared for."

Toni leaves behind Marina and five children from his first marriage to Monika Meggle (rip 2012).