Theodore Reunert
Theodore Reunert (c1860?-1943)
of Kimberley, South Africa ; and Benson's Buildings, Park Row, Leeds.
1944 Obituary [1]
THEODORE REUNERT, Litt.D., who was the founder and chairman of Messrs. Reunert and Lenz, Ltd., of Johannesburg, was one of the oldest Members of the Institution having been elected in 1883. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and served on the South African Advisory Committees for both Institutions. In addition he was a founder member of the South African Association of Engineers and of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science.
He was born in Yorkshire and received his practical training with Messrs. Kitson and Company, locomotive engineers, Leeds. After a year in association with Mr. Wilson Hartnell, Volt Works, Leeds, one of the pioneers in the electrical industry in this country, he went to South Africa in 1879, and was first employed as engineer to Messrs. Mosenthal and Company, of Kimberley Diamond Fields.
Eighteen months later he started the firm of T. Reunert (now T. Reunert, Ltd.) in Kimberley. In 1888, together with Mr. Otto Lenz, he established the firm of Reunert and Lenz (now Reunert and Lenz, Ltd.) in Johannesburg. In 1922 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand, a fitting recognition of his work for education in South Africa. Dr. Reunert was the author of a book published in 1893 entitled "Diamonds and Gold in South Africa", in which he emphasized the importance to South Africa of the discovery of its mineral wealth.
His death occurred at Durban on 21st January 1943.