John Jacob Bausch

John Jacob Bausch (born Johann Jakob Bausch; July 25, 1830 – February 14, 1926) was a German-American maker of optical instruments who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with Henry Lomb). Over six decades he transformed his small, local optical shop into a large-scale international enterprise, pioneering the American optical industry.

Early years Bausch was born Johann Jakob Bausch to Georg Bausch, a baker, and his wife Anna Schmid, in Groß Süßen (today part of Süßen) in the Kingdom of Württemberg, then part of the German Confederation. At the age of eighteen he moved to Bern, Switzerland, where he worked as a lens grinder in an optical shop designing camera lenses. In 1850 he emigrated to the United States. Upon his arrival, he made his way to a German community in Buffalo, New York, but because of a cholera epidemic there he settled in Rochester, New York, and Anglicized his name to John Jacob.

In the spring of 1861, Lomb enlisted and served in the American Civil War for two years. In Lomb's absence, Bausch accidentally made a fortuitous discovery: he found a piece of vulcanite rubber on a New York street. He took it home and experimented making eyeglass frames from the material. At that time wire frames were mainly made from gold, and horn-rimmed frames were made from either European deer horn or tortoise shell, so eyeglasses were considered an expensive luxury. Bausch realized he could make stronger and less expensive vulcanite eyeglass frames, but soon he struggled to keep up with demand. During the Civil War, the blockade caused the price of gold and European horn to rise dramatically. This resulted in a growing demand for the Bausch and Lomb spectacles made from vulcanite. One of their famous products was Ray-Ban sunglasses, until they sold it to the Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica.

Bausch led his company for more than six decades. He died on February 14, 1926, in Rochester, New York. Bausch & Lomb continued to flourish under the leadership of his son Edward Bausch, remaining preeminent in its field. It was named to the Fortune 500 list of America's leading companies in 1975.