Alfred Bader

Alfred Robert Bader (April 28, 1924 – December 23, 2018) was a Canadian chemist, businessman, philanthropist, and collector of fine art. He was considered by the Chemical & Engineering News poll of 1998 to be one of the "Top 75 Distinguished Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise" during C&EN's 75-year history.

Early years Alfred Bader was born on April 28, 1924, in Vienna, Austria. His father, Alfred Bader, was of Czech Jewish descent. His grandfather, Moriz Bader, had been a civil engineer, who worked on the Suez Canal and was appointed Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph by Emperor Franz Joseph for his service as Austrian consul at Ismaïlia. His older sister, Marion, remained with Countess Serényi and was raised as a Catholic. His adoptive mother remained in Austria, and died in 1942 in Theresienstadt.

Bader went on to study at Harvard University, with the support of the Abbott fellowship. At Harvard, he studied with famed organic chemist Louis Fieser, working on the rearrangement of quinones and the development of intermediates in the Hooker oxidation process.

As the catalog grew, so did the company. In 1962 in a 50:50 venture between Aldrich Chemicals and Metal Hydrides Inc., Alfred Bader founded Alfa Inorganics, intending to complement Aldrich's organic chemicals with inorganic research chemicals. This joint venture was terminated in 1967. Other joint ventures have been formed as well. A separate corporation, the Alfred Bader Chemical Corp., was sold to Aldrich on December 20, 1965. A British subsidiary, originally known as Ralph N. Emanuel, Ltd., was co-owned by the Emanuel and Bader families from 1959 to 1969, was gradually taken over by Aldrich, and officially renamed Aldrich Chemical Co. Ltd. in 1973. Aldrich also obtained a controlling interest in Heidenheimer Chemisches Laboratorium (HCL) in Heidenheim, Germany by 1971. As of 1987, 35% of the chemicals sold by Aldrich were produced in-house.

In an unexpected corporation upheaval, Bader was voted off the board of the company in 1992, losing the title of chairman emeritus, but remaining one of the largest holders of the company's stock.

Art collector

Bader stated, "I am an inveterate collector. It may be a sickness, and it began with stamps at eight, drawings at 10, paintings at 20, and rare chemicals at 30."

A lifelong collector, Bader has devoted himself to the study of art history and collection of many fine paintings. In 1961, he and Marvin Klitsner established Alfred Bader Fine Arts gallery in Milwaukee. Artworks from his collection were also featured on the Aldrich Handbook, beginning with the Quill Cutter by Paulus de Lesire in the 1967–68 edition of the catalog.

In 1995 Bader published his autobiography, Adventures of a Chemist Collector, which details his experiences from Nazi-era refugee, to chemist magnate, to fine arts connoisseur. In 2008 he published his second autobiography, Chemistry & Art - Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector.

Alfred Bader died at home in Milwaukee on December 23, 2018.

Philanthropist Drs. Alfred and Isabel Bader at Queen's University's Bader College, 2009

Bader has given various charitable donations to Queen's University, Canada, both financial and in-kind. He purchased the 15th century Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England, and donated it to Queen's University, which opened Bader College there in 1994. The residence at the college at Herstmonceux Castle is named "Bader Hall" in recognition.

Bader and his second wife, Isabel, have also established a number of fellowships, including the Alfred Bader Graduate Fellowship, the Alfred Bader Graduate Fellowship in Art, The Alfred Bader Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities, and the Alfred and Isabel Bader Postdoctoral Fellowship in Jewish History. Queen's also hosts three Bader Chairs: in Organic Chemistry, in Southern Baroque Art, and in Northern Baroque Art. In honour of his numerous contributions, in 2004 Queen's renamed a campus road from "Queen's Crescent" to "Bader Lane".

The Baders are long-time supporters of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's in Kingston, Ontario. Upon the invitation of curator Frances Smith in 1967, Bader first donated a painting to Queen's, a Salvator Mundi. In 2014, Bader and his second wife, Isabel, donated 68 paintings from their personal collection of Dutch and Flemish Baroque art to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, bringing the number of paintings they have donated to the centre to over 200. Highlights of the collection include three paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, Head of an Old Man in a Cap, Head of a Man in a Turban, and paintings by Willem Drost, Jan Lievens, Aert de Gelder, and Jacobus Leveck. The collection has been the basis of a number of exhibitions and publications.

The Baders also contributed a "transformational gift"

At Victoria University, Toronto, alma mater of Isabel Bader, the Baders funded construction of a performing arts theatre, the Isabel Bader Theatre.

Since 2001, the Baders supported the Malta Conferences Foundation which uses science as a bridge to peace in the Middle East.

Since 1986, the Baders have funded the giving of the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry by the American Chemical Society, "to recognize outstanding contributions to bioorganic or bioinorganic chemistry". Since 1989, the Baders have funded the Bader Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry given "to recognise eminence in organic chemistry". Since 2013, the Alfred Bader Award has been given by the Canadian Society for Chemistry to a scientist working in Canada for "excellence in research in organic chemistry".

As of 2011, the Baders had donated $1.6 million towards the construction of the proposed Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM).

Awards and honours Awards and honours received by Alfred Bader include but are not limited to the following:

Honorary degrees

DSc from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (1980) DSc from Northwestern University (1990) DSc from University of Edinburgh (1998) DSc from Glasgow University (1999) DSc from Masaryk University (2000)

Memberships Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters - Fellow (1986) Royal Society of Chemistry - Honorary Fellow (1990) Chemical Institute of Canada - Honorary Fellow (1996) Austrian Chemical Society - Honorary Membership (2002) Royal Society of Arts in London, England - Fellow

Medals and awards American Chemical Society, Milwaukee Section - Award (1971) Winthrop-Sears Medal (1980) Czech Academy of Sciences - J.E. Purkyne Medal (1994) American Chemical Society - Charles Lathrop Parsons Award (1995) University of Vienna - Honorary Citizen (1995) Boron USA Award (1997) American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (1997) Pittcon Heritage Award (2009) Commander of the Order of the British Empire the daughter of a deeply religious Protestant family in Northern Ontario and a graduate of Victoria University in Toronto, began with a shipboard meeting in 1949 and continued in a rapid courtship and some 400 love letters. Isabel broke off the relationship because of religious concerns and settled in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England but did not become romantically involved with anyone else. Her love letters to Alfred Bader have been published as A Canadian in Love, 2000.

Alfred went on to meet and marry his first wife Helen Ann "Danny" Daniels, in the United States. Similar in many ways to Isabel, including a Protestant religious upbringing, Danny converted to Judaism before Bader proposed to her. Married in July 1952, they had two sons, David (born 1958) and Daniel (born 1961). Danny worked at Aldrich Chemicals, and owned shares in the company.

Nearly three decades later Alfred re-connected with Isabel, which led to the breakdown of his marriage with Danny; Danny requested a divorce in 1981 and died six years later. Alfred subsequently married Isabel and the two remained happily married until his death.

Resources

Adventures of a Chemist Collector, by Alfred Bader. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1995 Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector, by Alfred Bader. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2008 A Canadian in love, letters from Isabel Overton to Alfred Bader, edited and with an introduction by Roseann Runte. Toronto : Victoria University, 2000.

The Bader Family papers, Victoria University Library, Toronto, Ontario The Aldrich Chemical Company collection, 1945-2001 (bulk 1951-1980), Science History Institute, Philadelphia, PA