Congratulations to Samantha and Maxwell, two outstanding undergraduate students who will be participating in GLL’s Summer Language Program in Dresden and have been awarded this year’s two Jutta and Peter Neckermann Study Abroad Scholarships in the amount of $500.

Samantha Marosis (Biology major with a minor in German) and Maxwell Steele (English major with a minor in German), who both participate in The Ohio State Scholars Program, will be able to use the money to defray the cost of their travel to Germany.


Dr. Peter Neckermann was born in Würzburg on 26. October, 1935. He earned a BS in 1960 and an MA in Economics in 1962 from Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Frankfurt am Main. It was in Frankfurt that he met Jutta née Völk, and they married in 1960.

With Master's degree in hand, Peter took the position of General Partner at his father's company, Neckermann Versand KGaA in Frankfurt. These were the years of the West German economic miracle, and one of the most-heard slogans was "Neckermann macht's möglich." Germans were able to find almost any item in the Neckermann catalog.

In the late 70's, when the company was bought out, Peter and Jutta Neckermann decided to start second careers. They moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Peter worked his way up to Vice-President and Chief Economist for Nationwide Insurance Companies. Jutta worked as an Interior Designer. Peter studied Comparative Political Science at Ohio State and in 1990, finished his dissertation, The coalition processes in the Federal Republic of Germany--a study of the influence of political leaders on the process of coalition building, under Professor Bradley M. Richardson in the Department of Political Science. Afterwards, Peter published Unification of Germany, or, The anatomy of a peaceful revolution, wrote a peer-reviewed article for East European Quarterly, and from 1993-1998, wrote eight articles on European Affairs for World & I Magazine.

Peter suffered a stroke in the spring of 1998 in Columbus. He was cared for by Jutta, and the couple made the decision to go back to Germany in 2004. They lived near Tegernsee by the Bavarian Alps. On 24. April, 2006, Peter passed away.

Jutta still lives in Bavaria, and we are grateful for her continued support of The Jutta and Peter Neckermann Study Abroad Scholarship, awarded annually to several full-time Ohio State students who participate in an approved study abroad program in Germany.

The scholarship was established May 1, 1998 with the gift to The Ohio State University from Peter and Jutta Neckermann of Columbus, Ohio to enhance the educational experience of deserving Ohio State students by providing scholarships for study abroad programs in Germany.