Editing Walter Haefner

{{Short description|Swiss businessman and thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Walter Haefner
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1910|9|13}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2012|6|19|1910|9|13}}
| death_place = 
| occupation = Businessman: automobiles/computers<br />Racehorse breeder
| children  = Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner<br /> [[Martin Haefner]]
}}

'''Walter Haefner''' (13 September 1910 – 19 June 2012) was a Swiss businessman and a [[thoroughbred]] racehorse owner and breeder in Ireland.

As a young man Haefner went to work in the auto industry as an employee of the Swiss division of [[General Motors|General Motors Corporation]]. He eventually moved to England where he acquired an automobile franchise before returning home to open a [[Volkswagen]] dealership. Recognizing the important role a computer could play in his growing chain of dealerships, in 1957 Haefner became one of the first in Switzerland to import an [[IBM]] system for business use. This led to his 1964 creation of Automation Center A.G., a computer services company in [[Zürich]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/2000/06/20/feat.html|title=Cashing in on Computer Software in Switzerland and the U.S.|last=Orol|first=Ron|work=[[Forbes|Forbes.com]]|date=20 June 2000|access-date=2010-10-08}}</ref>

In 1976, he expanded operations to the US and, after merging his company with [[Russell Artzt]]'s and [[Charles Wang]]'s publicly owned software company, [[CA Technologies|Computer Associates International, Inc.]], in 1987, Haefner was CA's largest individual shareholder until his death. He continued to own [[AMAG Automobil- und Motoren]], a highly successful Swiss automobile dealership chain. Until his death, at age 101, he was the oldest person worth more than a billion dollars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Age_40.html|title=The World's Billionaires (sorted by age)|page=40|work=Forbes.com|date=10 March 2010|access-date=2010-10-08}}</ref>

Through horse racing, Haefner met art dealer [[Daniel Wildenstein]], who was himself a successful horse breeder. In the mid-1960s, Haefner acquired his first paintings from Wildenstein's New York branch. 

==Moyglare Stud Farm==
In 1962 Haefner purchased the {{convert|440|acre|km2|adj=on}} Moyglare Stud Farm near the town of [[Maynooth]], [[County Kildare]], Ireland. His [[thoroughbred]] [[horse racing|racehorses]] have won numerous [[Group One]] and [[British Classic Races]] in England, Ireland, and France as well as important races at other venues in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong.

In the United States Moyglare's racing stable was handled by [[Horse trainer|trainer]] [[Christophe Clement]] while [[Dermot K. Weld]] is the trainer in charge of its European operations. In 1991 Weld became the first European-based trainer to win a race in Hong Kong when Moyglare's colt [[Additional Risk]] won the [[Hong Kong Mile|Hong Kong Invitational Bowl]] at [[Sha Tin Racecourse]].

In 1975, the [[Curragh Racecourse]] honored Moyglare's contribution to Irish racing by naming a Group I race the [[Moyglare Stud Stakes]]. In 1988 [[Trinity College, Dublin]] awarded Haefner an [[Honorary degree|honorary]] doctorate for his services to the Irish bloodstock industry and for his contributions to education in Ireland.

Selective major race wins by some of the horses owned or bred by Moyglare Stud Farm: 
* [[Additional Risk]] - [[Hong Kong Mile|Hong Kong Bowl]]
* [[Again Tomorrow]] - [[Premio Parioli]]
* [[Assert (horse)|Assert]] - [[Prix du Jockey Club]], [[Irish Derby Stakes]] 
* [[Bikala]]  - Prix du Jockey Club, [[Prix Ganay]]
* [[Brief Truce]] - [[St. James's Palace Stakes]]
* [[Carwhite]] - [[Prix d'Ispahan]]
* [[Dance Design]] - [[Irish Oaks]], [[Pretty Polly Stakes (Ireland)|Pretty Polly Stakes]] (2), [[Tattersalls Gold Cup]]
* [[Definite Article (horse)|Definite Article]] - [[Tattersalls Gold Cup]], [[National Stakes]]
* [[Dress To Thrill]] - [[Matriarch Stakes]], [[Matron Stakes (Ireland)|Matron Stakes]], [[Sun Chariot Stakes]]
* [[Go And Go]]  - [[Belmont Stakes]]
* [[Market Booster]] - [[Pretty Polly Stakes (Ireland)|Pretty Polly Stakes]], [[Bayerisches Zuchtrennen]]
* [[Media Puzzle]] - [[Melbourne Cup]]
* [[Refuse To Bend]] - [[2,000 Guineas Stakes|2,000 Guineas]], [[National Stakes]], [[Eclipse Stakes]], [[Queen Anne Stakes]]
* [[Relaxed Gesture]] - [[Canadian International Stakes]]
* [[Stanerra]] - [[Japan Cup]]
* [[Trusted Partner]] - [[Irish 1,000 Guineas]]
* [[Twilight Agenda]] - won [[Meadowlands Cup]], [[San Pasqual Handicap]], [[Del Mar Breeders' Cup Mile]]. Career earnings of US$2,177,843

Haefner's daughter, Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner, owns [[Moyglare Stud]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bloodstock.racingpost.com/news/bloodstock/my-week-goffs-director-joey-cullen/1901802/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622000948/http://bloodstock.racingpost.com/news/bloodstock/my-week-goffs-director-joey-cullen/1901802/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 June 2015 |work=[[Racing Post]] |title=My Week: Goffs director Joey Cullen |accessdate=2 November 2015}}</ref> As of November 2015, ''[[Forbes]]'' estimated her net worth at US$2.4 billion.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite web|title=Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/eva-maria-bucher-haefner/|website=Forbes|accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref> She is married with two children and lives in Zurich.<ref name=Forbes />

==See also==
*[[List of billionaires]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haefner, Walter}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Zurich]]
[[Category:Swiss businesspeople]]
[[Category:Irish racehorse owners and breeders]]
[[Category:Swiss art collectors]]
[[Category:Swiss philanthropists]]
[[Category:Swiss men centenarians]]
[[Category:Swiss billionaires]]
[[Category:20th-century philanthropists]]