Robert Wilhelm Gerling (13 August 1878 - 25 January 1935) was a German insurance executive and businessman who founded the Gerling-Konzern, of the largest insurance providers in Germany in 1904.
[1][2] Gerling was born 13 August 1878 in Elberfeld (today part of Wuppertal), the fourth of six children, to Robert Gerling Sr. (1847–1934), a commercial representative for his fathers button factory, and Anna Gerling (née Fromm; 1850–1938).
[3] After school he completed a 3-year apprenticeship as insurance agent with C. Mihr & Co., which owners were friends of his fathers.
On 11 July 1907, Gerling married Auguste Hoffmeister (1879–1964), who was the daughter of a penitentiary director in Cologne.
They had three sons; He died on 25 January 1935 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.