Othmar G. Grueninger

Indianapolis – Othmar Guenther Grueninger, 92, died Friday July 16, 2021 at Marquette Manor. Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, May 3, 1929, he was the son of Elisabeth Nagel Grüninger and Bürgermeister Edwin Grüninger. Othmar was married to Libby Jones of Indianapolis, Indiana. Othmar Grueninger had a passion for sharing the world, and looking for the next adventure, new places to go and new ideas of how to get there. That passion started at a young age. Active in the Boy Scouts, he was one of three Germans who attended the Boy Scout Peace Jamboree 1947 outside of Paris, and was very involved in rebuilding the Boy Scouts in southwestern Germany. Othmar received a bachelor and masters degrees in chemistry from Geissen University in Germany before coming to the United States in 1953 to study International Relations. He then received a masters from DePauw University and worked towards a PhD in International Relations at Northwestern University. It was at DePauw that Othmar began to offer student tours to Europe as a way to earn some money and visit his home. It was on his first summer 10-week tour that he met Libby, one of his first clients. After they married on February 11, 1956, the couple expanded his successful student business into a full-service travel agency. Using his first-hand knowledge of Europe, he arranged tours for corporate travel clubs, as well as the general public. Throughout the years, Grueninger Travel continued to grow, opening branches across the Midwest and Northeast. He led the industry with innovative travel offerings such as rail tours across Canada and the American West in Grueninger-owned Pullman railway cars, specialty cruises in the Mediterranean and Great Lakes on cruise ships for groups such as the Shrine Temple, Olympic trips for athletic coaches and off-season charter getaway weeks in Portugal and Spain. The firm was the largest agency for TWA and EL AL, which invited Grueninger Travel to be one of the first agencies to launch travel to Israel. In the late '70s, Othmar became president of Carras Cruises, based in San Francisco, with two passenger ships and 14 freighters. In 1983, he and his family returned to Grueninger Travel and Indianapolis, where he has spent his remaining 38 years. He continued to focus on group travel, expanding offerings in religious pilgrimages and student performance travel including high school bands and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir (ICC). In 1997, he was the Grand Marshal of the King Kamehameha Parade in thanks for his promotion of Hawaii and support for the parade. Today, the Grueninger Travel Group includes Ambassadair, Grueninger Music Tours, Grueninger Meetings and Incentives, Grueninger Tours and Cruises and Amber Travel. In 2008, son Michael took over the company, giving Othmar and Libby time to focus on personal travel and their growing list of grandchildren. The couple also founded The Alpine Haus in Broad Ripple in the early 1960s (which later moved to Glendale), a ski and import store, after finding that there was no place to purchase ski equipment and European imports in the Indianapolis area, at the time. Othmar was a founding member and president of the American Retail Travel Association (ARTA), as well as a state secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and the Northside Kiwanis. He served on the board of the Jaycees, was State Secretary for a two-year term and a long time Exhausted Rooster. He was also on the board of the Propylaeum, and involved with the National Tour Association. He was particularly proud of becoming a U.S. citizen in December of 1960. In 2015, Othmar was honored with the Hoosier German-American of the Year, a special award for promoting cultural understanding between Germany and the United States and the two sister cities of Indianapolis and Cologne. He is survived by his sister Anglika Heftrich, daughter Christina and husband Hugh Dyar III; daughter Heidi and husband Michael Healy; son Michael and wife Erika; and ten grandchildren-- Bryn Hoffman and husband Andrew, Darby Dyar, Hugh Dyar IV, Conner Healy, Kai Healy, Cameron Healy, Michael Grueninger, Max Grueninger, Sophia Grueninger and Anna Grueninger. Othmar’s family would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful people at Marquette Manor who took such good care of Othmar, especially during the last 7 months since Libby passed away. They would also like to express their gratitude to the hundreds of people who worked for and with Othmar throughout the years, many of whom have reached out to the family to share their respect and stories. A calling will be held at Leppert Mortuary, 740 E 86th St, Indpls, Sunday, July 25, from 3-5 pm. A Mass of Christian Burial service will be held at St. Luke Catholic Church Monday, July 26, at 11:30 am with burial at Crown Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Student Youth Travel Association Youth Foundation which helps children in need experience the world at https://sytayouthfoundation.org/online-donation-form or 2776 S. Arlington Mill Dr., #564, Arlington, VA 22206. Arrangements are in the care of Leppert Mortuaries, 740 E. 86th Street, Indpls, IN 46240. To share a memory, please visit www.leppertmortuary.com.