Alfred Bader

This autobiography of Alfred Bader, the distinguished chemist, art collector and philanthropist, reveals how after being interned in 1940, and sent to a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp, he became very successful in United States. His story tells a case of hard study and hard work.

---

This is the autobiography of the distinguished chemist, art collector and philanthropist, Alfred Bader. Born in Vienna, Bader fled to England at the age of 14, ten months before the outbreak of World War II. Although a Jewish refugee from the Nazis, he was interned in 1940 and sent to a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp. In this book, he tells the story of his success in the United States. It was a case of hard study and hard work. Obtaining his release in 1941, he was accepted by Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where he studied engineering chemistry. There followed a fellowship in organic chemistry at Harvard. Bader worked in Milwaukee as a research chemist for Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and in 1951 co-founded Aldrich, which today, as Sigma-Aldrich, is the world's largest supplier of research chemicals. After leaving Sigma-Aldrich, he continued a fruitful career as an art collector and dealer. Alfred Bader and his family have a reputation as generous benefactors, notably in the fields of chemistry, education and Jewish interests. In 1992, Bader gave #6 million to Queen's University, Ontario, to purchase and renovate Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex.