Death of PETER SAUER, General Secretary of CIRCOM Regional

Details: Published: 30 April 2010

It is with the deepest sense of sadness and loss that I must inform all colleagues and members of the CIRCOM family of the untimely death of our friend and General Secretary Peter Sauer.

Peter will be a huge loss to us all within the Executive Committee, European Board and the broader family of the CIRCOM organisation. He was a committed and loyal CIRCOM member who always put the interests of the organisation and his own station Bayerisher Rundfunk before all else. He gave selflessly to both.

On a personal level I will miss his wisdom and common sense. He was the central figure who with great colleagues was guiding this organisation through turbulent times. He gave us the leadership and support we needed and required. He will be greatly missed.

To his wife and son on your behalf I extend our deepest sympathy.

May he rest in peace.

Michael Lally,
President of Circom Regional

Memorial service for Peter

Memorial service for Peter was held during the 28th Circom Annual conference in Malta. Here are the words of David Lowen:

"If you knew Peter, then nothing I can say will make you feel his absence from among us today any the less.
If you did not know Peter Sauer, I fear that what I say now will not do him justice.
As colleagues and friends we have been in a state of disbelief for a week. But at this very moment, our thoughts surely are with Marion his widow and teenage son Frank as they attend his funeral in Nuremberg. Above all, he was a father and a husband.

Peter was Head of the Current Affairs and News Department at Bayerischer Rundfunk Bavarian Broadcasting in Nuremberg since 1995.
In 2000, he took over leadership of the BR Online Department of Northern Bavaria. As Editor-in-Chief of the Current Affairs and News Department, he developed the European magazine programme, Alpha Europa.
For Circom, he was Germany’s National Coordinator and Executive Producer for Circom co-productions before becoming General Secretary in 2006.
He developed Circom training and the Circom European Summer Academy (CESA) was his idea.

He was keen we should learn from each other how to face the future in our television business. A problem shared, he believed, would be a problem eased.
How we would wish his own personal problems could have been shared and made easier too.

We watched a vast flock of swallows fly in for the summer. He told me he was inspired by my enthusiasm for birdwatching when we were together in Nuremberg six years ago. He bought a bird identification book and kept it by the window overlooking the garden. Together the family, he said, checked every odd bird they saw.

That day he smiled. He laughed. He joked. And it is the sense of humour I will miss and his ability to stay calm when the arguments are flying. Peter the rock.
Sometime in the darkness of a dark night one week ago, that calmness, that steadiness, that sense of humour let him.

We miss him. And we mourn him.
But above all we value what he did for Circom and for television. And we will continue his work. "