Earlier this week, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld (don Jörg Freiherr von Saalfeld Viererbe) died at San José, Costa Rica. He was eighty-five years-old. A funeral mass will be held on 28 June at the Iglesia San Rafael Arcángel in Escazú.
Born on 17 January 1937 at Munich, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld and his twin brother Baron Jens von Saalfeld were the eldest children of Baron Heinrich “Enzio” von Saalfeld (1908-killed in action 1941) and Rut Martha Viererbe (1910-1974), who wed in 1936. Jörg and Jens (1937-2001; married Kathryn Kostka) were followed by two younger siblings: Baroness Jay (b.1938) and Baron Jan (b.1941; married Clara Bansbach). After the death of her husband, Baroness Rut von Saalfeld married Karlheinz Schnell in 1943. From his mother’s second marriage, Jörg von Saalfeld had two half-sisters: Wiebke Schnell (b.1945; married Carlos Roberto Aubert Zeledon) and Frauke Schnell (b.~1948; married David Muñoz)
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| Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen and Katharina von Saalfeld. |
Baron Jörg von Saalfeld was a paternal grandson of Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen (1859-1941) and Katharina Jensen (1874-1945; created Freifrau von Saalfeld), who married in 1892. The couple had six children; their youngest child was Enzio, Jörg’s father. Prince Ernst was the Head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen from 1928 until his passing in 1941. Jörg’s paternal great-grandparents were Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen and his second wife Princess Feodore zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a niece of Queen Victoria.
On 13 August 1966 at San José, Costa Rica, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld married Heidi Schmidt-Steinvorth (b.1944). Earlier in 1966, Jörg’s sister Baroness Jay had married Heidi’s older brother Hans Hermann Schmidt-Steinworth (b.1942). Jörg and Heidi divorced in 1973; they did not have any children.
In April 1976 at San José, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld married Hilda Steinvorth y Steffen (b.1953). He is survived by his wife, his brother, and his three sisters as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
May Jörg Rest in Peace.
