Alfred Bader

Alfred Robert Bader ( born April 28, 1924 in Vienna ) is a Canadian chemist, businessman, art collector and patron of Austrian origin. He is one of the two founders of the company Aldrich and was long the president and chairman of Sigma -Aldrich, one of the world's largest producers and suppliers of research chemicals.

Origin and life

Bader's father Alfred was of Jewish origin and came from Moravia, his mother Elizabeth was a Catholic and came from a Hungarian noble family. Bader's father and his sister Gisela were the only children of Moritz Ritter von Bader and his wife Hermine, nee friend. Moritz Bader lived in his native town of Gaya, was involved, among other things as an engineer in the construction of the Suez Canal and was knighted for his services as an Austrian consul in Ismailia by Emperor Franz Joseph. Bader's mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Count Johann Nepomuk Serényi and his wife Irma, Countess Dessewfy.

Alfred Bader's parents were married in 1912 in London. The mother of the family was against the marriage and broke all relations in the wake from. Two weeks after Alfred Bader's birth, his father committed suicide. Then Alfred and his sister Marion were adopted by their aunt Gisela and grew up in Vienna. End of 1938, Alfred came as part of the Kindertransport to the UK and visited the Brighton Technical College, however, was two years later interned as Enemy Alien shortly after reaching the 16th year of life and taken to Canada. Since 1945, studying Alfred Bader Chemical Engineering at Queen's University ( Kingston) and financed his studies as an employee in the laboratory of Murphy Paint Co in Montreal, a company for paints, inks and coatings that a little later by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co (PPG ) was taken. A scholarship enabled him to continue his studies at Harvard University in organic chemistry. He graduated there in 1950 with the title Ph.D. from. Louis Fieser was his PhD supervisor.

Chemist and entrepreneur

Bader worked from 1950 to 1954 in the research laboratory of the PPG. The then only supplier of research chemicals, Kodak, he did not appear efficient and fast enough. For this reason, Bader already in 1951, starting your own company, should produce small amounts of special chemicals and distribute decided, along with his former friend, the lawyer Jack N. Eisendrath. The company had a starting capital of $ 250 U.S., was named after the girlfriend Eisendraths Aldrich Chemical Company and was in 1952 only deliver twelve products. The catalog was continually expanded and greatly extended by the merger with Sigma Chemical Corporation in 1975. Bader was president of Sigma -Aldrich Corporation and was later chairman until 1991.

Bader also collected rare chemicals in the Library of Rare Chemicals, substances can be ordered in small quantities from today. He also founded the company magazine Aldrichimica Acta.

Art collector and patron

Bader is a collector since childhood. He started at its own commitment collecting stamps with eight drawings with ten of paintings by 20 and of rare chemicals with 30 years. In 1962 he founded the art collection Bader Fine Arts. Bader operated for many years as a patron and financed together with his wife Isabel both science and art projects.

The German-speaking Society for Art & Psychopathology of expression eV ( DGPA ) awarded him in 1969 the Hans Prinzhorn medal.

The University of Vienna appointed Bader 1995 an honorary citizen and awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2012.

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