Michael

was the younger son of Dipl.-Ing. Gustav I and Christine “Christl” Mautner Markhof (née Seeliger). He spent his youth in Schwechat, where he lived with his parents and brother Gustav II on the family brewery premises. Like his brother, he also graduated from the Vienna Academic High School in 1968. He then completed a year of voluntary service in the Austrian army in Baden, where he achieved the rank of sergeant. He completed his law studies at the University of Vienna in 1975 with the degree of Dr. jur.

In 1978 he married Gertrude Just (1953 – 2006) and lived with her and their three children (Christoph *1981, Katharina *1982 and Victoria *1990) in their newly built house in Schwechat. The much too early death of his wife hit him hard.

Michael started his career as a tax consultant at Süd Ost Treuhand and later continued as a lawyer at Mautner Markhof AG. From 1990 onwards he was a member of the board of directors of St. Georg Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft and subsequently also a member of various supervisory boards. Together with his mother’s and brother’s shares, he was the largest single family shareholder in Brau AG, which was merged into today’s Brau Union in 1993. It was not until 2003, with the takeover by the Dutch Heineken Group, that the Mautner Markhof family’s majority shareholding ended.

Tennis was his great passion. Michael was the Austrian national doubles champion in his youth and continued to be an enthusiastic tennis player as long as his health permitted, playing hundreds of championship matches. He was a member of the Schwechat Tennis Club from the age of ten and was president of the STC from 1993 until his passing. He also served as President of the Lower Austrian Tennis Association from 1994 – 2002. In 1993 he opened the MMM tennis hall, which still exists today and was originally planned as a joint project with his beloved brother Gustav. After Gustav’s untimely death, he managed it until his retirement, first alone and later together with his son Christoph.

Besides tennis, politics was one of his great passions:

• ÖVP Local Council in Schwechat (1975 – 1980 and 1985 – 2000)
• Member of the state parliament of Lower Austria (1993 – 1998)
• City Council in Schwechat (1996 – 2000) / City Party Chairman
• Golden Decoration of Honour of the Province of Lower Austria (2011)

The municipality of Schwechat was to remain his home until his death.