When Niels Due Jensen was appointed distinguished alumnus of the year in 2017, he used his acceptance speech to talk about his passion for development and technology. As a child, he had followed his father’s work in developing pumps and could see how the pumps could create quality of life around the world by moving water.

“I was infected by my father’s enthusiasm,” he said. Therefore, it was also natural that he himself became a machinist and later a mechanical engineer from the then Aarhus Technical College, now Aarhus University and part of the Faculty of Technical Sciences.

Here, Dean Eskild Holm Nielsen has met Niels Due Jensen many times. Most recently two years ago, when Niels Due Jensen visited the engineering programmes at Katrinebjerg.

“It was always inspiring to talk to him. He was shaped by technology and development. He has always supported technical research and still had a heart for the engineering education in Aarhus and thus Tech,” says Eskild Holm Nielsen.

Niels Due Jensen died on 12 September at the age of 81. He became director of Grundfos in 1974 and then CEO until 2003. After that, he was chairman of the board until 2011 and chairman of the owner foundation Poul Due Jensen’s Foundation until 2018.

The title of distinguished alumnus is given to a person who has graduated from Aarhus University and has made a special contribution to society and has created positive attention to their field and the university.

In his acceptance speech, Niels Due Jensen described his driving force as curiosity.

“It is our curiosity and quest for answers that give us the opportunity to gain insight and clarity to become wiser about ourselves, about humanity, about nature and materials, and to create new connections,” he said.

During Niels Due Jensen’s time as CEO, the Grundfos Prize was also established to honour young researchers in engineering or natural sciences.

“He has always supported Grundfos having many industrial PhDs. He truly made a difference in the collaboration between the university and the business sector,” says Eskild Holm Nielsen.

Today, Grundfos is among Denmark’s largest privately-owned companies with 20,000 employees worldwide. The company is now led by Niels Due Jensen’s son, Poul Due Jensen.

As a distinguished alumnus, Niels Due Jensen was in the company of, among others, the current King Frederik, who became a distinguished alumnus in 2008.