Joost Ritman, the Dutch businessman behind the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, died on June 5, 2026, at age 85.
Born in Amsterdam in 1941, he made his fortune through the family company De Ster, which sold plastic tableware to airlines. Ritman later founded the Amsterdam library that became his best-known project and received the Laurens Janszoon Costerprijs in 1995.
He was knighted in the Order of the Dutch Lion in 2002.