Mourning for Lars Pöppel

Dear university members,
dear colleagues,

It is with great sadness and dismay that we bid farewell to Lars Pöppel, the head of internal auditing at our university, who passed away last week at the age of just 52 after a serious illness.

Lars Pöppel joined the university in 2001 as a clerk in the human resources department of the central administration of the then University Lüneburg. He quickly distinguished himself not only through his great expertise and high level of commitment, but also through his keen powers of observation and his friendly approach to his fellow human beings.

In 2010, Lars Pöppel took over as team leader for the human resources area in the central project management of the major EU project Innovations-Inkubator (Innovation Incubator) and in this role played a major role in an important development phase and the success of the university's largest third-party funded project to date. The results of the Innovation Incubator and thus also the results of his work have, among other things, made possible the development of the Professional School, the practical cooperation and the start-up activities of Leuphana, as well as various research topics of the faculties.

After the end of the Innovation Incubator, Lars Pöppel was appointed head of internal auditing at Leuphana in 2016. His responsibilities included, in particular, monitoring compliance with the principles of economy and efficiency at the university on behalf of the Presidential Board and advising the university's departments on the development of processes and compliance with the principles of the economic and proper use of the university's financial resources. He devoted himself to this task with great dedication, a strong sense of duty and a high level of identification.

We are saddened by the loss of Lars Pöppel, a person who distinguished himself through his collegiality, humanity, helpfulness and reliability. He had a formative influence on the development of the university and made a lasting contribution to Leuphana. With his passing, we have lost a particularly dedicated colleague who worked tirelessly for our university.

We remember Lars Pöppel with sadness and gratitude. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family.

On behalf of the Presidential Board
Sascha Spoun
President