Johann Friedrich Weskott

Johann Friedrich Weskott (8 October 1821 – 4 October 1876) was a German master dyer and industrialist who co-founded the dyestuffs firm Friedr. Bayer et comp. in 1863 with Friedrich Bayer. The partnership, initially focused on synthetic coal-tar (aniline) dyes such as fuchsine, grew into the company later known as Bayer AG.

Life Weskott was born in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal) and received his schooling in nearby Langerfeld. In 1837 he began an apprenticeship as a dyer at the firm Karthaus & Otto in Barmen. In 1848 he established his own cotton-yarn dyeing business, first in rented premises in Heckinghausen and later in Barmen-Rittershausen; among his principal customers was the local sewing-thread and braiding company Barthels & Feldhoff.

Weskott suffered from chronic lung disease and died in Barmen on 4 October 1876, aged 54. Accounts of Bayer's early years consistently note the complementary partnership between the salesman Bayer and the master dyer Weskott in establishing a leading dyestuffs enterprise.